Dear Agony

Breaking Benjamin is faithful to the rock music

The US-based alt-rock band Breaking Benjamin has several times made the deeds that were commented on by the skeptically-minded persons in several directions. Everything started from the formation of the collective, when guitarist Aaron Fink and bassist Mark James Klepaski left the successful and promising group Lifer in order to start their own project. Why would they leave the former band? Did they actually need to create one more alt-rock command? Well, if the stars exist it means that they are needful for someone, thus the band titled Breaking Benjamin proved to be a needful creation – they were immediately paid attention on the US scene, while the disc Saturate became one of the brightest events on the American rock market in 2002. The further, the more – the dark and heavy disc We Are Not Alone followed. It brought more popularity to the musicians. However, even after all this the skeptics went on to roar – the guys were lucky to make the debut album successfully, their second disc also was far from a failure…But when should we expect from their third long-play? The third album presented the listeners with a lighter and more mainstream sound, which gathered new armies of fans on the stadiums, where Breaking Benjamin performed along with the rock legends like Nickelback, Korn, Evanescence, but it also provoked suspicions that the artists strive to be pop starts. The fourth disc by the band, bearing the name Dear Agony, is sure to cheer the band’s fans again and disappoint the skeptics – the musicians stayed faithful to their roots and recorded one more highly professional, well-done alt-rock album.

On Dear Agony you will not find two similar songs

In spite of the fact that all the tracks on the disc Dear Agony are united by memorable guitar riffs, dark atmosphere, in which the musicians are real masters by now, and emotional vocals by Ben Burnly, you will not find here two similar songs, although the entire length of the record is a little more than an hour. The disc starts with the winding, sparkling with energy track Fade Away. This song possesses all the qualities of the potential hit and is the best album opener for the whole story of the band. It is fallowed by the outrageous first single I Will Not Bow with the hooky riff, big chorus and masculine brutal vocals. The melody Crawl is sure to strike anyone’s imagination with its obscure atmosphere and mesmerizing chorus. It can be called one of the best moments on the long-play and demonstrates the highs, that the band has reaches in the matter of song composition. The balladry piece Give Me A Sign became one of the best love songs ever performed by Breaking Benjamin and one of their strongest slow-burn compositions. The upbeat track Lights Out will be memorable for the powerful guitars, plain but energetic rhythm and aggressive vocals. The motif Into The Nothing is beautiful and reminds of the earlier songs by the band from their debut disc. The long-play is crowned by the love song Without You – it is a thoughtful, filled with feelings final track, which is not slow at the same time.

The artists make their own way

The band Breaking Benjamin plays for about seven years, during which it managed to recommend itself in the alt-rock circles as the highly professional live team. Besides, the musicians have reasons for being proud – they have in their actives two multi-platinum albums and kick off the tours with the devoted rock scene heroes, which made all the North America talk about four lads from the town in the state of Pennsylvania. This year, the artists as usually did not fallow the “wise” advice of the mass media or provokers, but simple continued to do what they think is appropriate. It is a fact that they made their sound lighter. However, it did not make their songs less serious. There was the data leak and the album was available for download in the internet a week before the official release date, but the members of the band did not react it and issued Dear Agony only on the date the planned. The disc Dear Agony demonstrates not only the more efficient play of the drummer and guitarist; it also features the same high-rated vocals and serious approach to the song writing. Besides, the disc Dear Agony has six video versions of the tracks, which is a weighty bonus for the listeners. All in all, the quartet recorded one more qualitative, diverse and at the same integrate alt-rock album with the post-grunge sound. If you like rock music, you just can not look though this new disc.