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If you want to get inside Ben Burnley’s head, just look at the Dear Agony album cover– it’s an actual scan of the singer’s brain. The lyrics to the first single, “I Will Not Bow,” provide further insight: “Now’s your chance to run for cover / I don’t want to change the world / I just want to leave it colder.” Then there’s the musicality—trademark Breaking Benjamin, full of uber-catchy choruses, dexterous drumming, intricate, powerful riffs and a darkly compelling vibe. It’s a sound that gave the band the #1 rock hits “So Cold” and “Sooner or Later” off 2004’s platinum We Are Not Alone,” and “Breath” and “Diary of Jane” off 2006’s recently certified platinum Phobia. On Dear Agony, produced again by David Bendeth (Paramore, Killswitch Engage), Breaking Benjamin upped the ante, as Burnley notes:
“We’ve been together 8 years, which is like 20 years these days. We’ve honed our sound and focus. Being on the road, you become a better musician, and the more music you listen to and the more experiences and people you’re exposed to, the more complicated you become, the more complicated your music can become.”
Indeed, behind insinuating layers of melodies and radio-ready rock riffs are intense and complex feelings explored and expressed by Burnley. “The title track started as a sort of ‘letter to agony.’ I have some symptoms and health issues that just won’t go away, so I equate it to anybody who has a permanent illness, in that you deal with it and it becomes a part of you.” That said, Dear Agony is the first album Burnley recorded since he quit drinking. “I can’t say if it would have been a better or worse album if I’d been drinking. For me, drinking was a way to put myself in an inspirational mindset to write and create. Writing sober is more time-consuming… waiting for that inspiration to hit. But when you do write, you know it’s good, you don’t have to wait until you’re sober the next day and listen to it,” he laughs. Proof positive of Burnley’s ever-increasing songwriting skills are the 11 stellar tracks on Dear Agony–the dynamic ‘I Will Not Bow” was snapped up for the Bruce Willis flick “Surrogates,” while ‘Give Me a Sign” is an instantly memorable mid-tempo classic, in contrast to the raw, aggro intensity of “Hopeless.”
Recorded at the appropriately named House of Loud studio in New Jersey with David Bendeth, Breaking Benjamin was thrilled to do their third album with the Brit producer again at the helm. As bassist Mark James notes, “it’s the first time we worked in a studio owned by a producer, which helped the process immensely as far as a comfort factor. We were not afraid to try something new, to jump off the edge of the cliff and put ourselves out there. The bar has been raised pretty high, but it’s crucial to stay relevant and excited and exciting.”
Though Dear Agony is a forceful title, it doesn’t sum up any theme for the CD, as Burnley explains. “It’s pointless to ask me what a song is about—it’s about whatever the listener feels when they listen to it. That’s what the song exists for.” Though Burnley is the sole lyricist, he did some collaboration with Jasen Rauch, guitarist of Grammy-nominated band RED. “He has his band, I have mine, and they’re two totally different things,” Burnley notes, “but together we have a flow. I’m really fortunate to know him and work with him.” Akin to Tool and Nirvana, two Breaking Benjamin inspirations, Burnley likewise crafts cryptic, evocative lyrics. “I don’t particularly like listening to songs that are very obviously about something unless it’s something really, really clever and cool,” says the frontman. “I try to make it so that every line is a self-contained thing.” Though Burley titled the previous CD Phobia, he finds writing about personal issues hasn’t proved cathartic, especially when it comes to his well-documented fear of flying. “I didn’t get into a band to fly. I never kept it a secret. That’s one thing I’m not going to bend on,” he states. “I’ll have that fear until the day I die. Being in a band doesn’t change that in any way whatsoever.”
That said, BB ventures far from their Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania home base, touring in front of rabid fans for months at a time. For his part, guitarist Aaron Fink is looking forward to road-testing the new tunes: “You see the visceral reaction between you and the audience, and you know what songs and riffs are working,” he says, adding, “If you like Breaking Benjamin, you’re gonna like this record.” James concurs: “All our records are quite eclectic, so there’s a song for any mood. We’re excited to tour, and along with our great catalog, we now have these new songs to reach from.”
As for Breaking Benjamin’s growth since Saturate, Burnley cites an apt analogy: “If you have a kid, and you’re around the kid every day, you don’t know how much it’s growing. But if you spent a few months away and came back and looked at him, and he was three feet taller and had facial hair, you’d be like “wow, you’ve changed so drastically!” That’s how it is. I haven’t noticed the change as much, because I’ve been there creating it every single step of the way.”
Breaking Benjamin believe it’s a need to not do the same thing twice that created the musical evolution evident on Dear Agony. “I never put out anything I’m not 100 percent satisfied with, but then again, you’re never going to find a group of people who have the same favorite song,” says Burnley. “They’re all going to say ‘this song rocks, this song sucks.’” That said, Breaking Benjamin is thrilled with their place in the rock pantheon. “I totally realize that we’d be nothing without our fans. That’s just a given. We’re the kind of people who have our jobs because what we like just so happens to be what a lot of people like,” Burnley concludes. “I’ll be honest: I write music for myself, and if other people like it, that’s awesome.”
WOW!
YES, THANK YOU TL!! <333
I need to have these on my ipod. Ben’s voics sounds absolutely awesome! Does anyone know if there will be a way to get these two songs?
Bleedmusic: they are the bonus tracks on the Japanese release of Dear Agony. That’s the only *legal* way of getting them. Album is approx $40 shipped from amazon.co.jp.
I checked that link out (amazon.co.jp) and its the same version that we get here. Any more information (or links) on where to pick up the album with these two tracks would be great.
Actually it’s not the same because it has these two tracks on it. This is nothing new, each of their albums has had additional tracks to appease the Japanese fans who have to pay an arm and a leg for an album.
We Are Not Alone had “Ordinary Man” and “Lady Bug” and Phobia had an acoustic version of “So Cold” and the single-version of “Rain” if I’m not mistaken.
Well, if you have a direct link to the cd with those bonus tracks on it, can you post it? because the one I saw had only 11 songs on it, and no bonus acoustic tracks.
“Give Me a Sign” was already so beautiful non-acoustic, but I just fell in love with the song all over again. God I love this album
I would love to be able to spend money to legitimately own these. Since TuneLab puts their stupid watermark over the top of the song it’s not even a good option to record them from here. Come on guys, put em on iTunes or something…
“Since TuneLab puts their stupid watermark over the top of the song it’s not even a good option to record them from here.”
– Exactly why we do it.
Here’s the direct CD link on amazon.co.jp: http://bit.ly/7w3Ovh
just 2 great recordings of these songs. they sound great acoustic!
‘“Since TuneLab puts their stupid watermark over the top of the song it’s not even a good option to record them from here.”
– Exactly why we do it.’
Owned. I wish there was a way to buy it directly from tunelab or something.
put em on itunes already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Of course putting your watermark is why you do that but there should be separate, un-tampered copies for the public to purchase through itunes or a medium on TL itself, because the songs are so great and in such high demand (obviously) that something ought to be done to make them available to us. That’s all we’re asking for. We’re even willing to pay! That says a lot
I agree with Worsttofirst04, Presnonaly, I am alittle shocked that they would put them on a site let evreybody know they are there, then not sell them, Infact I lost alot of respct. Presonaly, BB is my favrote band, there Ben’s music has gotten me threw alot of hard times in my life, and when ever I hear him sing no matter what I feel happy, but to do something and tell evreyone its there, then say “Oh well, its going to coast you 40$ to get it” as I said, lost alot of respct for that crap, even if its some sort of marketing gimick, still press crappy that they would do that.
Sorry for spelling mistakes, its late, and I type fast.
WOW! Its like hearing without you for the first time all over again. Awesome job guys. You really are one of the best.
where can i download these 2 songs frm???
Apparently people don’t realize that A TON of bands put bonus tracks on Japanese and Chinese releases of CDs. Most all modern CD releases have exclusive Japanese bonus tracks. You’re lucky to even hear these tracks without buying it or pirating it. Hit up eBay and import sites like the rest of us do.
I love the original.. but this one is #$@ing amazing!
It would be cool if the band put them on itunes…but then they wouldnt be exclusive bonus tracks for the japanese crowd
For those of you who want to buy the CD with the acoustic tracks go to this web address. After many hours of searching I finally found it. Its $21.64 and has the 2 acoustic versions.
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=CTCW-53119
another way to get these songs is to open an itunes account for the japanese store ,buy an itunes card japan(ebay) an download the songs.i guess it`s the fastes and cheapest way…
Hey Jay, whose voice is that on the little interruption?
Kyle, that’s my wife on the voiceover.
I hate to be a ballbuster, but it seems to me that either BB or tunelab simply took the master vocals off of the hard rock track for “Give Me a Sign”, increased the tempo artificially, and put the vocals over an acoustic track. I keep playing them back-to-back and the vocal changes are identical. There’s no way that Ben, as good a singer as he is, could have possibly used the same amount of timbre, vocal inflection, and air support on EVERY NOTE in the song. Even the backgrounds sound the same. So I’m calling “fake” on these tracks.
Just my two cents.
Are you serious dude? This yanging guy must not have ever heard studio acoustic versions of songs. This is common practice. Happens all the time. I’m surprised you wasted that much time just listening to vocals.
haha, fake? For one thing, the vocal tracks aren’t the same, just sang the same way. yanging, if you really had the musical ear you claim to have, you would realize this. They’re close, but not nearly as similar as you make them out to be. Heck, just the “Dead star shine” part at the very beginning of “Give Me a Sign” was all I needed to hear to realize that the track was different. Secondly, why would they be fake if they used the same track? I honestly fully expected them to use the same track, but was pleasantly surprised they didn’t. I think the BGVs may be the same as the original though. And thirdly, you realize that tunelab has nothing to do with these tracks other than streaming them? These are legit songs that were released on the Japanese version of the album.
I think yanging meant that they arent actual acoustic recordings, or LIVE acoustic recordings. They sound similar, but not the same. They ARE studio recorded so they are going to sound much more sonically accurate than a Live recording. Either way, great depth to already awesome songs. I think yanging just jumped a little too far to a conclusion.
I think he meant that Tunelab was faking then to get plays.
Yah maybe. He’s wrong, either way.
Uh-mazing! I have always been such a big fan of Breaking Benjamin.
If you go to http://www.mrtzcmp3.net and search band name, song and “acoustic” you can get these and more. Also certain audio recording programs have a function called “record master” or “what you hear” which basically records anything that will play your computer speakers. It’s linear recording (not a simple download) but it works. Instant mp3!
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