Breaking Benjamin - Dear Agony
Released September 29, 2009
Benjamin Burley, Aaron Fink, Mark Klepaski, Chad Szeliga
Genre: Post Grunge, Alt Metal
Intro
Breaking Benjamin. A band I have wanted to review for a long time, and with the addition of the Wheel Of Albums (patent pending), this album was the first winner. I wont lie I only know this particular album for 2 songs, and the other I have heard didn't really impress me but I know how good this band is so I can only hope this ends well. We are also approaching 2 years of this god forsaken site, so be ready for some "events" to come.
Thoughts & Feelings
This album makes me feel like I walked in on a sad teenage girl writing all of her emotions down in an attempt to write a sad girl pop album, then her metal head brother got their notebooks mixed up but kept the lyrics the same for his album.
Smash Or Pass?
Fade Away- SMASH. Great start to this song and album. The instrumental is solid and the vocals are well delivered. The production isn't amazing but that's a common issue for metal albums from this era. This band is amazing at making songs emotional but not overwhelming, and this is a great example of that.
I Will Not Bow- SSSSSSSSMMMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH. Yup you knew this was coming. Gold medal on song 2. There is a reason this song is the most popular off this album by FAR. This song absolutely slaps, and there is a 99% chance you have heard it before. This is one of those songs that I would give the listen award but chances are you have already heard it.
Crawl- SSSMMMAAAASSHH. Heavy opening into a calmer more melodic verse. It picks back up a bit in the build up. SCREAMING IN THE CHORUS. This band uses some screaming but a LOT less than what I normally listen to. Great song and a very pleasant surprise for the songs I didn't already know.
Give Me A Sign- SSSSMMMAAAASSSHH. I actually know this one! Its a slower ballad song, and its a perfect mood shift after the last few. Amazing song, and its on me for forgetting this song is on this album, for some reason I thought it was on Phobia. Another perfect example of this bands ability to make emotional songs.
Hopeless- SMASH. Heavy riff focused opening, breaks into calmer but still heavy verse section. The chorus is this awesome blend of screaming and singing, with that same punchy riff breaking back into the verse. Great song.
What Lies Beneath- SSMMASSSHH. Well it turns out I know a LOT more of these than I thought I did. This is another amazing emotional ballad. This band does these so well, but their real specialty is how they place these tracks in the album order to perfectly add emotion and drive to the rest of the songs.
Anthem Of The Angels- SSSMMMAAASSSSHHHH. Theatrical/operatic opening, then breaks into a more rock sound. The vocals sound strangely processed on this song. The chorus and bridge are absolutely incredible though. By FAR the most emotional song yet, but it is a perfect compliment to the last song. Best of the ones I didn't know before the review so far. Another amazing ballad.
Lights Out- SSMMMAASHHH. FUCK THAT EMOTIONAL SHIT THIS IS A METAL ALBUM. Heaviest start to a song yet. SCREAMING BREAK INTO THE CHORUS. This song fucking slaps, I am VERY impressed with this album so far.
Dear Agony- SSSSMMMAAAASSSHHH. Another one anyone who knows this band has heard. A great emotional ballad once again. This song is great, but honestly even though it was one of the ones I knew before there is better on this album.
Into The Nothing- SSMMMASSSHH. ANOTHER BANGER SONG. This album has extremely poor reviews and I can not understand that at all. Yes this album is not as good as some others that BB has released (Saturate and Phobia) but this album is still great and should not be looked at as the weird step child with 2 good qualities. As for this song its just great, not much else to say.
Without You- SSSMMMASSHH. A perfect closing track for this album. A great blend of the emotional ballads and heavier tracks from the record, and done in a very well produced way. I was very pleasantly surprised by this album, and having the closing words be "the end" with a theatric instrumental to close out the project is just amazing.
Conclusion
This album fucking SLAPS. It's not BB's best work, but its still damn good compared to average albums. That being said this album is definitely more emotional and "sad" than their previous work, most likely leading to the negative reviews. This album honestly felt closer to early Nothing More than BB.
RANK: A
Well there's the first review in the "Wheel Of Albums™" era. I have a list of more to do but as always I am open to requests and recommendations. Shoutout to my boy Christian on this one, he's a huge BB fan so he'll definitely be excited to read this one. As always thanks for reading and feel free to leave feedback in the comments or by messaging me.
-Jake (JunosBestFriend)
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