"Final Masquerade" is a song by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band Linkin Park. The song was originally recorded by the band for their sixth studio album, '' The Hunting Party'', where it appears as the eleventh track on the album and serves as the fifth and final single. The song premiered on MTV on June 8, 2014. The song was produced by

Mike Shinoda Michael Kenji Shinoda (; ja, 篠田賢治, Shinoda Kenji; born February 11, 1977) is an American musician, singer, rapper, songwriter and record producer. He co-founded the rock band Linkin Park in 1996 and was the band's collaborative vocal ...

and Brad Delson, and co-produced by

Emile Haynie Emile Haynie (born July 13, 1980), often credited simply as Emile, is an American music producer from Buffalo, New York. His range of production includes alternative rock, hip hop, indie and pop music. Haynie has worked with several prominent ar ...

. An acoustic version of the song was released for digital download on February 19, 2015.

Composition

"Final Masquerade" has been described as an

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commerci ...

and a hard rock song.Partridge, Kennet
"Linkin Park's 'The Hunting Party': Track-by-Track Review"
'' Billboard'' June 18, 2014. Retrieved April 1, 2018 In an article from ''

Metal Hammer ''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' features news, reviews and long-form ...

'', it was explained as "more like '' A Thousand Suns'' than ''

Hybrid Theory ''Hybrid Theory'' is the debut studio album by American rock band Linkin Park, released on October 24, 2000, through Warner Bros. Records. Recorded at NRG Recordings in North Hollywood, California, and produced by Don Gilmore, the album's l ...

'', which Linkin Park gives at their most controlled, meditative, a slowly unfurling, mid-paced anthem built around simmering keyboards, unfussy, low-tempo beats and palm-muted guitar. The song features one of

Chester Bennington Chester Charles Bennington (March 20, 1976 – July 20, 2017) was an American singer and songwriter who was best known as the lead vocalist of rock band Linkin Park. He was also the lead vocalist of the bands Grey Daze, Dead by Sunrise, ...

's finest vocal performances on the album." MTV described the song as "a sharp, edgy, lushly harmonic heavy-hitter that falls perfectly in line with Linkin Park’s lengthy string of hulking, hooky hits." In an interview with MTV, Shinoda explained:

Music video

The official music video for the song, directed by Mark Pellington, was released on July 29, 2014 for premiere on MTV. A lyric video for the song was released earlier, as it debuted through Linkin Park's official Facebook page and in digital download format on June 10, 2014. As of December 2022, the music video for "Final Masquerade" has over 120 million views on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

Reception

In the track-by-track review by '' Billboard'', the song is given a positive response and explained as, "Synths and palm-muted guitars carry the mid-tempo verses into a head-nodding hard rock chorus. With that, another love affair ends in epic fashion, and there's even a big stadium sing-along."

Accolades

The song was voted as the second-best rock song on the ''

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...

's rock 100 list''. The song was placed after their another song "In the End"."In The End" and "Final Masquerade" have made it to the top of Kerrang!'s Rock 100 list
''Facebook'' April 15, 2015.

Track listing

Personnel

;Linkin Park *

– lead vocals * Rob Bourdon – Drum kit, drums, Percussion instruments, percussion * Brad Delson – lead guitar, backing vocals * Dave Farrell, Dave "Phoenix" Farrell – bass guitar, backing vocals * Joe Hahn ("Mr. Hahn") - Sampling (music), samples, Programming (music), programming *

– backing vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards

Charts

Release history

References

{{authority control 2014 songs 2014 singles 2010s ballads Warner Records singles Linkin Park songs Hard rock ballads Music videos directed by Mark Pellington Songs written by Mike Shinoda Songs written by Emile Haynie Song recordings produced by Emile Haynie American hard rock songs