Breaking Benjamin - WeAre Not Alone

Tue 5th Oct, 2004 in Music Reviews

There is nothing more inspiring then sitting down with a CD and loving it after the first listen and this is exactly what Pennsylvania’s, Breaking Benjamin, has done after producing quite the masterpiece with their latest album, We Are Not Alone. Ben Burnley – vocals and guitar; Aaron Fink – lead guitar; Jeremy Hummel – drums and percussion; and James Markus – bass guitar, are all the guys that form the exciting package that is Breaking Benjamin.

Following their 2002 release, Saturate, Breaking Benjamin have ventured into unbreakable grounds with We Are Not Alone which sees the quartet showing immense versatility all-round when it comes to vocals, music, and lyrical content. With sounds, at times, similar to Disturbed and a non-commercialised Nickelback, ranging through to a likeness with Collective Soul, Breaking Benjamin have more or less established a sound of their own.

The opening track So Cold is undoubtedly an epic journey of heavy sounding riffs accompanying a powerfully strong display of vocals by Burnley. The song is a perfect start to the album beginning with soft melodic music and then breaking into a heaviness often craved for by metal fans. “You’re so cold but you feel alive, lay your hands on me one last time…”  The lyrics encourage pure engagement from the listener and a rather embedded impossibility to at any point turn your ears away.

Following suit with the heaviness of So Cold are the tracks Simple Design, Follow, Firefly and Break My Fall. They’re all great songs with more hard-hitting riffs and vocals but more importantly their heaviness is what makes the song Forget It such a beautiful juxtaposition. Co-written by and along with additional guitar work coming from the former Smashing Pumpkins’ frontman, Billy Corgan, Forget It sees a dramatic change from the initial heaviness of the album when it introduces soft melodic vocals from Burnley complemented by music which could almost be classed along the lines of pop. “Forget it, just memory on a page inside a spiral notebook” The song is emotionally rich and shows a sentimental side to Breaking Benjamin which prevails as a strong indication of the depth the band has, along with the noticeable influence of Corgan.

The next song, Sooner Or Later, is a very lyrically stimulating track with words such as “I want a normal life, just like a newborn child I am a lover, hater, I am an instigator…” It’s quite a sad song with a purposeful meaning to encourage a loved one to realise what they have and be careful about obstacles in life which could jeopardise the stability of things. “Sooner or later, you’re gonna hate it, go ahead and throw your life away.”

Coinciding with all the great tracks on the album so far are the next three songs; Breakdown, Away and Believe. These are all songs with music with the hard-hitting riffs and screams similar to ones found in a Static-X song and once again displays the versatility and depth found in Burnley’s voice. Believe, in particular, has some screams towards the end of the song that have could not have been more perfect and this is definitely an attribute nearing the end of the album.

Rain is the last track on We Are Not Alone and again is another song that saw contributions in the lyrics from Corgan. Along the same lines as Forget It, Rain is a gentle, ballad-like song that has the potential to stay in your head all day and all night. With lyrics as simple as, “Rain, rain go away, come again another day. All the world is waiting for the sun…” the melodic softness of the song is perceivably a deliberate conclusion to what has been a masterful album full of strengths in almost unlimited departments.

Breaking Benjamin’s We Are Not Alone is undeniably up there with the most exciting albums I have heard all year. With immense diversity in sound and uplifting energy portrayed throughout the course of all the songs, We Are Not Alone is destined to be a huge success for the guys and hopefully we’ll see a lot more from them in the future, particularly on the live scene in Australia.