"With this album, we've taken the microscope off ourselves and opened it up to the world," Bennington said of himself and band members Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson, Dave "Phoenix" Farrell, Joe Hahn and Rob Bourdon.
"A lot of us are dads, we all have families and we're much more mature than we were when we were 19 years-old, writing records," he said.
Bennington said the new record perfectly represents where the band members are as individuals today and how they view the world. The band's frontman has four sons, and fatherhood really "chilled" him out, he said.
"When I was younger, I liked songs that got people wanting to punch others in the face," he said. "Now, I don't want to scream at people. I want to talk to people. I feel much more able to speak about how I view things in the world."
He cited "The Messenger," which he wrote, as one example. He called it "literally a letter from me to my children" about how much they are loved by their parents. He said he wants them to remember that fact if they ever feel alone in the world.
"That's something I don't think I would have been very comfortable singing about 10 years ago," Bennington said.
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