a universe inhabited by powerful characters and defined by strange landscapes", with a general concept of having a unique "character" for each track on the album. Delson also contributed ideas of "internal and external struggles", metaphorically depicted on a battlefield, where images such as "flesh tearing and transforming into different forms and brittle shards of crystal erupting from organic matter" would recur. Shinoda explained: "We try to approach our art—packaging, merchandise, tour visuals, videos, anything—in a holistic way. All the parts are interconnected, and by creating great imagery that can be used in multiple contexts, we can immerse the fans in a universe that is consistent and unique to each release. It's always a work in progress, but I feel like we've learned a lot and continue to make it better each time." James Jean was invited by Shinoda and Delson to listen to the band's rough material created early on during the recording sessions for The Hunting Party. He acknowledged the band's change of musical direction from A Thousand Suns and Living Things, and was inspired by the material to create artworks that were "charged with [the band's] intensity as well as their rationale for that change". However, Joe Hahn banned Jean from listening to any more material after Jean had performed some of the songs from memory on his piano. Jean originally sketched each individual artwork for The Hunting Party in a personal sketchbook, where it felt more intimate and less precious to Jean. The minimality of the images was intentional, as the artworks would eventually be made into 3D-modelled artworks where lighting and texture would be added to each character. 20 artworks were made in the space of a month by Jean for Brandon Parvini and his team to transform into 3D-modelled artworks, with Parvini choosing exactly which artworks would be modelled for The Hunting Party. Title The title of the album, The Hunting Party, is a contextual metaphor. The album, a return to the band's original harder rock-centric sounds, represents the band's desire to not only create something different from other rock bands, but to also bring back the "energy and soul" of rock itself, and that Linkin Park are the party that will hunt for that energy and soul. Shinoda elaborated on the title of the album in an interview with Kerrang! explaining: "We got so sick of other bands trying to be other bands