Previously Unreleased Linkin Park Track “Friendly Fire” Out Now, Greatest Hits Album Announced

February 23rd, 2024 at 9:25am
Hesher Keenan

There’s an idea, or a way to cope with the sudden loss of an artist, that the work they did in life effectively makes them immortal. As long as their art lives on, so too do they. Overnight, the surviving members of Linkin Park put out a previously unreleased track titled “Friendly Fire” that features their fallen friend and vocalist Chester Bennington front and center.

The decision to put out the new-to-us track coincides with the announcement that the band will be releasing a greatest hits album titled Papercuts (Singles Collection 2000-2023). The new offering will be available via Warner on April 12.

According to the band, the new track was recorded during the One More Light sessions back in 2017. Guitarist Brad Delson said it was an instant favorite with him and his bandmates, but that it didn’t make the final cut. Regardless, the song is now out there in the world and honestly, from what I can hear, this would have blown the fuck up on pop/rock radio.

“‘Friendly Fire’ was always one of our favorite songs from the One More Light sessions. Something about it wasn’t quite right, so as close as it got to the finish line, we chose to set it aside for later. When we started looking for an unreleased track to include on our greatest-hits collection, I was blown away by the power of the song, the power of the storytelling, the power of the vocal, the sonic landscape and I actually thought that it was closer than maybe we had realized at the time. We got together to work on it and connect some of the missing pieces that for whatever reason hadn’t revealed themselves during the recording of One More Light.
“I can’t wait for people to hear it. It’s such a beautiful, compelling, heartbreaking, hopeful story and it really resonates with me today.”

Papercuts (Singles Collection 2000-2023) will include 20 tracks spanning the band’s career, including hits like “One Step Closer,” “Breaking The Habit,” and rare tracks like “QWERTY.”

Linkin Park co-founder and vocalist Mike Shinoda said putting the new collection together was a potent hit of nostalgia.

“Curating the tracks for Papercuts was a joy. Each song in this collection is both a singular moment on our timeline and an evolving story that is as much ours as it is yours. From our first release ‘One Step Closer’ to the brand-new ‘Friendly Fire’, this tracklist spans all our chapters so far. Thank you for being a part of our journey. We hope you enjoy Papercuts.”

Though the band never officially broken up, they’re still in a hiatus following Bennington’s death in 2017.

Papercuts (Singles Collection 2000-2023) will be released on April 12 via Warner.