Album Review: Breaking Benjamin – ‘Dear Agony’
Posted: September 29th, 2009
Contributed By: Nick
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Purchase @ iTunes Breaking Benjamin – ‘Dear Agony’ Release Date: September 29, 2009 on Hollywood Records |
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Breaking Benjamin starring: Benjamin Burnley (vocals/guitar) Aaron Fink (guitar) Mark Klepaski (bass) Chad Szeliga (drums) |
Produced by: David Bendeth
Knowledge: Here’s Breaking Benjamin in a nutshell: 2 platinum albums, six top ten rock singles*, and one hell of a rabid fan following. Breaking Benjamin make their return with a fourth LP entitled ‘Dear Agony’. *-Includes “I Will Not Bow”, the debut single from ‘Dear Agony’.
Turn-Ons: “Fade Away” is a soaring kick-start to ‘Dear Agony’, Breaking Benjamin’s most immediate album opener yet. It’s (sic) the little things about “Fade Away” that make the track shine, such as the warmth and maturity of Ben Burnley’s delivery and the doubled-up snare hits by Chad Szeliga on the words “almost over” in chorus two. The rhythmic and gentle catharsis “Give Me A Sign” is one of Breaking Benjamin’s most honest moments. Almost transcendental at times, “Give Me A Sign” is enlightened by Szeliga’s astute crash cymbal flourishes and whimsical bridge and back-end that humbly keep the slinky float of the tune flowing gracefully. “What Lies Beneath” is haunting and urgent, yet sun-kissed and thorough, sporting one of the most evocative and memorable riff progressions on ‘Dear Agony.’ Much of what makes “What Lies Beneath” so stellar can be attributed to the song’s masterfully dynamic arrangement; the mix is tucked down during its dark verses, then propped up for the radiant choruses seamlessly. The bridge of “What Lies Beneath” is nothing short of incredible, thanks to the pristine note sėlection of Burnley and co. “Lights Out” is a punchy and trigger-happy jaunt that seamlessly balances the dichotomy of berserk verses with glorious choruses. Breaking Benjamin’s work on “Lights Out” is so good in fact, that the original kings of the aforementioned structuring, Sevendust, would be dazzled. The band kicks you back to ‘We Are Not Alone’ with the groovy “Into the Nothing”, where Burnley and Fink’s guitar plucking craftily carves out a hop for the cut. Mark Klepaski’s bass chugs are thrust to the forefront, giving the majestic “Into the Nothing” some body as well as some earthy tones. “Into the Nothing” is similar to such songs in the Breaking Benjamin catalogue as “Believe”, “Breakdown”, “Topless”, and “Dance With the Devil”-an overall standout track that’s simply too cool to be a single.
Turn-Offs: There’s a lot of borrowing going on throughout ‘Dear Agony’. “Fade Away” is the womb buddy of “So Cold”. “Crawl” is an uber-predictable rehashing of “Breath”. “Give Me A Sign” tastes of “Dance With the Devil”. “Hopeless” is undoubtedly a forgettable and formulaic take on “Evil Angel”. And don’t get me wrong-I think “Fade Away” and “Give Me A Sign” are two of the best tracks off ‘Dear Agony’. However I just wonder why Breaking Benjamin, a band with clearly more to offer than the norm, would feel pressed to stick to a template, albeit one that works. ‘Dear Agony’ has a wealth of creative ingenuity, but its full potential can never be realized with that glass ceiling hanging overtop.
King: “What Lies Beneath”
Queen: “Lights Out”
FAIL: “Dear Agony”
Cool Points: Chad Szeliga is one of those rare drummers who can fully utilize a splash cymbal on a rock recording and make it sound not just good, but like the splash BELONGS on the music. That’s some freakin’ savvy behind the kit folks. Kudos to producer David Bendeth as he delivers a record with an agenda free sound-this album was made for Breaking Benjamin, not for the satisfaction of label folk, top 40 radio or anybody else.
Moral of the Story: ‘Dear Agony’ has its faults and Breaking Benjamin get a little lazy at times, but at the end of the day ‘Dear Agony’ is a fine piece of work. If Breaking Benjamin’s goal was to pen a record that represented a synergy of ‘Saturate’, ‘We Are Not Alone’ and ‘Phobia’, then they nailed it with ‘Dear Agony’.
A Fine Line: “Carry me under/You’re the devil in disguise/Sing for the hopeless/I’m the one you left behind.” – from “What Lies Beneath”
TuneLab Rating: 9 out of 10
142 Comments
Heather, have you been drinking again?
out of the toilet…
What other drinking would their be?
course not, and you know…now i’m suffering from crapulence. get’s me every time.
Hahaha, I’m sure you’ll sober up by Friday.
People need to stop giving “BB” credit for writing a great record. Ben did all the writing, including the music, with the exception of the parts Jasen Rauch helped write. Just look at the writing credits, the band doesn’t have any. Ben had the entire album recorded as a demo before even walking into the studio. He did this all without Aaron, Mark, or Chad’s help. They were hired studio musicians for this album and get no royalties from album sales. They were paid a one-time recording fee, just like other studio/session musicians get. So if you’re going to credit the writing, give credit where credit is due, and that’s to Ben.
Holy Shit….So what you are basically saying is that their is no more BB. WOW!
Meh… Decent album but BB always puts out a decent product. The problem for me is that it all sounds like old BB songs. They need to shake things up a bit and put something out that pushes the boundries. This album definitely did not do that. Instead of buying Dear Agony I will just pop in Phobia which I liked better anyways. (I did buy a few songs. Hopless, I Will Not Bow and Lights Out)
Holy s**t….So what you are basically saying is that their is no more BB. WOW!:”
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If you listen to the interview Ben did on CageRattle for the album release, when asked if he’d do a solo project his response was that BB basically is a solo project and he’d like to work on the opposite.
I’m surprised people are liking this album LESS than Phobia, that album just had too many duds for me (You, Here We Are, Topless, You Fight Me). I can’t say that there’s a single bad track on this album, just not many that stand out in comparison to their previous work. Its all still good tho.
Well gog, you’re fucking up my entire world with that info. When you say “work on the opposite” is he referring to making BB more of a band or developing a whole new band?
flyfreak: The other 3 records were written by all the guys together. In the version of the Dear Agony Studio Diaries that got cut (HR didn’t want any “negativity” out there), Aaron comments on how the other albums were written by all the guys throwing ideas off each other, but this album was just Ben (he also talks about Jeremy). My take was that Ben wants to work with people who are other good writers so that he doesn’t have to write. He doesn’t appreciate the input of the BB guys. Look at the one interview he did where he says that Jasen is the only person he’s worked with that can actually write (I’m paraphrasing). Ben having a project with Jasen Rauch and Nick Coyle (both good writers) should tip you off that he doesn’t want to be the sole writer any more. I asked DP to ask Ben about the project during the interview, but he conveniently forgot
I’ve also been told the drummer of said project, but I’m pretty sure the drummer doesn’t want his name out there at the moment, so I’ll leave it be.
Wow! This is some wild shit. When you talk about Ben’s new project is that speculation or are they on the map?
Well maybe he should have let the other guys contribute, the album might have turned out better.
@ GOG
In the Alternative Addiction interview Ben said he has written every part to every song with very small execptions, are you saying he lied in the interview?
That would be kinds weird, what would be the point in lying.
Omar, what is going on? Is Ben on the verge of a side gig. Is BB heading down a bad road? Does Paramore deserve top spot?
Well BB = Ben Burnley, as long a Ben keeps going then the brand “Breaking Benjamin” keeps going. If the other band member dont like it, I am sure Hollywood wont take long finding new ones.
Well this is just strange for me to hear this. I thought all these guys were laid back and pretty easy going and dug what they did. Guess not.
Omar: I know for a fact that Aaron wrote the music to “Believe.” He also wrote some of “Inertia,” which became part of “So Cold.”
To tell you the truth, stuff like this makes me hate a band. I know it shouldn’t, but band members attitudes really effect me while I’m listening to their music.
GOG: Its funny because he mentioned Mark writing “5%” of the riffs but didnt mention Aaron at all.
Ben’s had an issue with Aaron ever since he spent a lot of time writing and playing with Nick Coyle. I mean, he told the guy not to show up to record “Blow Me Away.”
GOG: Your kind of an “insider”, from 1 to 10 what are the chances this lineup makes it through another album? From everything I’ve heard, I’d say its pretty bleak.
I’m surprised they made this album, lol.
Well, that answers the question HAHA.
This is the worst news since Mike french kissed his grandpa for the last meatball.
Looks like Ben gave the line up their last cup of coffee. Maybe they can join up with Myles Kennedy?
Ben Burnley is just turning into the new version of Billy Corgan, or Trent Reznor. He might knock is other members for not being the best at writing, but if he didn’t have them he wouldn’t have his trademark musical sound. But at the same time, good for him for writing the whole thing solo (sort of, other than Jasen Rauch)
deleted
So I just found this site after listening to the CD and wondering if people thought the same as I do…and I love it.
I am, however, not impressed at all at with “Dear Agony”. I find it appropriate that it came with a CD of ‘the videos’ because this CD sounds like all of BB’s previous albums. If I listened to it without hearing previous CD’s, I would immediately go out and buy their whole collection…unfortunately, I have already been exposed to the same wriffs and melodies on previous tracks.
I think Nick’s review is dead on with his parallels between previous songs and ‘dear agony’s’ songs.
This sucks because Chad Szeliga is one of my favorite drummers and BB is one of my favorite bands. It seems Chad has fallen in love with the same flam (usually off the high-hat) from ‘Breath’.
I give the rock CD of the month to Chevelle’s ‘Sci-fi crimes’
I think Sci-Fi Crimes was good, but not as much intent to listen to as Dear Agony. Well worded though Westy. And to “theoxide” being deleted. lol. He says his favourite band is tool, but then he sent me a message and said I have the worst taste in music ever. So considering I listed oth Tool and aperfectCircle, I think he’d be more than an idiot. And if you look at my music list, I’m sure there are many band that anyone on here likes.
Maybe he got deleted because he is a tool.
lol, fly that’s what I was hinting at.
BB’s new album is really good but i prefer Phobia because Diary of Jane is amazing. XD
Was waiting for months for the album to come out and i was hoping they had their own stuff and less cover songs =/
Their still amazing and i love them!
Cover songs? No cover songs here or on any other album dear…
Hmmmmm…..I wonder…….
I wonder what she meant by covers. Was she hinting at them ripping off other Post-Grunge bands music, or copy old shit they’ve done. Or she just as confused as a bi-sexual girl in
highschool?
Hahahaha, I couldn’t have stated it better.
“Give Me a Sign” is a great song. Overall, pretty solid album.9/10
2-/10
2/10? really? I think you just have a grudge against these guys for some reason. ‘Cause, the lyricism alone is worth 3 points, the music, another 3, and then overall production and catchiness made another 1. So minimum a 7. I give it a 9. I didn’t like it much at first, but like TDG’s new one, it has grown alot on me.
Saturate is still my favorite, as much as I was waiting for Dear Agony to come out, Def surprised when I first heard it. Took a little time to get used to. Now I’d say 8/10. It’s a shame cause I really love the band as A whole although it seems to just be Ben & the guys playing behind him. Nothing against them but, Ben is king here & I guess if they don’t get along, they know where to go… although someone on here made a good point that, without them as a whole we might not dig the sound!