Breaking Benjamin - Dark Before Dawn

[Blzer]

Ben Burnley handpicked four new members for his band after the fiasco that occurred with his other band mates, and their new album comes out June 23rd (next Tuesday).

Very leading album title name, as the first track is called "Dark" and the last one is "Dawn." Three of their tracks can be sampled/purchased already (Failure, Angels Fall, and Defeated), and they all sound fantastic.

http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Before-Da.../dp/B00UMI95DI

I think Dear Agony was their best album yet, and then I can get the rest of my fix from their best-of Shallow Bay album (my favorite song of theirs is still Breath, and likely won't ever be passed). Ben Burnley, right alongside Myles Kennedy, is one of my favorite rock vocalists out there today, and it's great to see him making music again!

I will undoubtedly be picking this up Tuesday morning. I've had my new Lifehouse album fix for about the past month, but now it's time for a little harder material.

[Blzer]

Re: Breaking Benjamin - Dark Before Dawn

Well, I just gave it a playthrough.

The band hasn't evolved, and honestly I don't really care whether or not they do. They can stay right in their core, because that's what we're fans of anyway. That said, they added a third guitar in the mix which always keeps the music busy, for better or worse (sometimes you want some breathing room, and they don't really give it to you).

Dear Agony is ranked way above this one because tracks aren't so one-note. This one hits a major lull from tracks 4-8. Not that they "sound the same," but at the same time they kind of do. They aren't memorable, at least. Definitely feel more like filler songs. It also doesn't help that Dark and Dawn aren't really songs (Dark is an intro and Dawn is an outro, no real lyrics to speak of), so if you're going to play it on shuffle these are just easy skips. There also isn't progression really from Dark to Dawn as far as the words of the album, like going from grim to light. Could have made for a killer album that way.

That said, my favorite tracks right now are Failure, Angels Fall, The Great Divide, Ashes of Eden, and Defeated. The one true, true standout is Ashes of Eden, for it's mostly just Ben, a guitar, and a drum kicks in its beat at one point as well.

I'm glad they stuck to who they are and I'm going to listen to it a lot more this month to try and get more out of Breaking the Silence, Hollow, Close to Heaven, Bury Me Alive, and Never Again. After the first playthrough though, these kind of just fall to the wayside.

So, I'll give this a 3/5 on first impressions.

PROS
Same style as previous albums
Third guitar allows for more dynamics and punch
Few good tracks that you would add to a "greatest hits" for BB
Much better sound mix than Dear Agony
Ben hits some new vocal peaks

CONS
Relentless riffing in the middle of the album with no real direction
Poor arrangement of tracks, especially with album motto
Many filler tracks, esp. Dark and Dawn
No breakthrough standouts other than Ashes of Eden
You'd expect more after a six year hiatus

[Blzer]

Re: Breaking Benjamin - Dark Before Dawn

As expected, I was a bit harsh on my first comments. This album is fine. There is no song I'm not a fan of, but some don't spend too much time trying to distinguish themselves from the main BB sound. What I mean by that is if I had a whole collection of BB songs on shuffle and it was muted, then I turned on the volume, there's probably about a 70% chance it will take me more than fifteen seconds to recognize specifically what the song is. They have that same sound on this album for some songs, not for others.

At any rate, Ashes of Eden is truly a gem, and I don't listen to radio but I'd like to hear Failure hit the FM airwaves if they still play any rock these days. Never Again grew on me with more plays, as has Close to Heaven. I want to play this entire album from start to finish again though and find the fit with Dark and Dawn, but right now they will remain unchecked on my iTunes playlist.

[Hooe]

Re: Breaking Benjamin - Dark Before Dawn

Breaking Benjamin peaked with Phobia, IMO.

I'll give this album a shot, but if they haven't evolved their sound or their lyrical content I don't know how interested I will be.

[Blzer]

Re: Breaking Benjamin - Dark Before Dawn

Breaking Benjamin peaked with Phobia, IMO.

I'll give this album a shot, but if they haven't evolved their sound or their lyrical content I don't know how interested I will be.

They haven't, so you might not be.

[Hooe]

Re: Breaking Benjamin - Dark Before Dawn

Well, if the objective of this album was to make a Breaking Benjamin record, they succeeded in spades.

It's a lot of retreading over the same ground, though. Down to even specific guitar riffs, seemingly. I swear I could layer songs from Phobia and Dear Agony on top of the songs here and it would be like that one famous Nickelback Youtube video with "How You Remind Me" in one speaker and "Someday" in the other; I seriously was doing double-takes at some point.

I'm not all the way through the album yet, but I am waiting for any of these tracks to be an ear worm. So far I've got nothing. If that changes I'll edit this post.

[Blzer]

Re: Breaking Benjamin - Dark Before Dawn

Well, if the objective of this album was to make a Breaking Benjamin record, they succeeded in spades.

It's a lot of retreading over the same ground, though. Down to even specific guitar riffs, seemingly. I swear I could layer songs from Phobia and Dear Agony on top of the songs here and it would be like that one famous Nickelback Youtube video with "How You Remind Me" in one speaker and "Someday" in the other; I seriously was doing double-takes at some point.

I'm not all the way through the album yet, but I am waiting for any of these tracks to be an ear worm. So far I've got nothing. If that changes I'll edit this post.

Yup, I can pretty much go through every track and say, "I know that part from [insert other BB song title here]."

One of the songs reminds me of an Evanescence song, though. I'm trying to recall which one it is off the top of my head (for both bands). When I remember it I'll throw it out there (the BB song might have been Close to Heaven).