MACHINE HEAD's ROBB FLYNN: 'The World Is A Lot Darker Place Without CHESTER BENNINGTON In It'

MACHINE HEAD's Robb Flynn has paid tribute to LINKIN PARK's "Hybrid Theory" album, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this month.

"Hybrid Theory" — LINKIN PARK's original name before it was changed for legal reasons — was issued in October 2000 and was a breakout success for the group, which had formed in 1996 and had played the Los Angeles club scene for several years. The album yielded four massive hit singles — "One Step Closer", "Crawling", "Papercut" and "In The End" — while going on to sell more than 10 million copies in the U.S. alone.

Writing in the latest installment of his online blog, "The General Journals: Diary Of A Frontman... And Other Ramblings", Flynn said about "Hybrid Theory": "Congrats to 20 years of this album. Love this album. It has stood the test of time amazingly well. And how many bands has this record influenced of the younger generation....countless.

"Saw LP open for ORGY the week it dropped, in the small downstairs club of the Maritime Hall which rarely got used. I'll be straight, it didn't really translate at the time, and ORGY (whose debut album Candyass I also loved) definitely were a lot better. But by that time 'One Step Closer' was ALL OVER the radio, and let's face it, how do you not like that song? But even at that point I still didn't take the dive, I was vibing on INCUBUS 'Make Yourself' for this style.

"Fast forward to the next summer, and were setting up camp at Putah Creek at Lake Berryessa for 5 days of alcohol fueled birthday debauchery, and another campground is blasting this album, and both [my wife] Genevra and I were like 'man, this record is really, really good'. In fact, the entire weekend it seemed like every campground and every boat we passed by was blasting the album.

"We saw them again at the Warfield or year or so later for a fan club-only show and they blew the freakin' roof off the place. It was so heavy, and so exciting, all of the touring had really gelled them as a band. People will poo-poo this, but they were on fucking fire that night, as heavy or heavier than many of the heaviest bands I've toured with. Chester [Bennington] could belt it out when he wanted to, one of the best modern singers around. And they had the hooks… man… the fucking HOOKS!

"I've seen LP in Paris, Belarus, a few more home shows, and had the pleasure of playing several festivals with them. Chester would come over and said hello to me while I was watching from the side of the stage, and then came and watched our show. I wouldn't say we were friends by any stretch, but they knew who I was, and would get me into the shows.

"The world is a lot darker place without Chester in it. I wouldn't pretend to know if this is a bittersweet moment for the rest of the guys or not, but it is a moment they should be very, very proud of.

"I'm gonna crank me up some LINKIN PARK today and probably try and learn one of these songs for the acoustic happy hour on Friday."

This past July, Flynn shared a cover version of LINKIN PARK's "In The End" to mark the third anniversary of Bennington's death. Flynn performed a rendition of the "Hybrid Theory" smash hit at his birthday bash in Oakland, California on July 22, 2017 — two days after Chester's body was found at his home in Palos Verdes Estates, California. The singer's passing was ruled a suicide.

"Hybrid Theory"'s 20th-anniversary deluxe reissue was made available on October 9 via Warner Records. The set comes in multiple physical and digital formats, including a super deluxe box set, super deluxe vinyl box set and deluxe CD that all come with the original "Hybrid Theory" as well as the "B-Side Rarities" with 12 previously released tracks from the album era.

LINKIN PARK headlined an all-star tribute concert for Bennington in October 2017 in Los Angeles but has not announced any future plans for recording or touring.