2009 was a very hard year for me, the summer in particular held a series of painful events that made me mature and shattered the remaining hopes from my childhood (like thinking the world revolves around me. lol). 2009 is also the year Dear Agony came out. Kind of funny how fate (and target audiences) work some times, eh? This album represented my emotions down to a T. However at the time I was hoping for this album to lift my spirits, not cast me down. Today I am looking at the latest installment in the Breaking Benjamin discography: Dear Agony.
Note: I can't give the names of the people who helped produce and mix the album because Breaking Benjamin never added this album to their discography for some reason on their website, Shallowbay.com
Title: Dear Agony
Year: 2009
Genre: Emotional Metal, Techno Rock
Artist(s): Breaking Benjamin
Copyright: © 2009 Holly Wood Records
Songs:
1. Fade Away
This track pretty much sets the mood of the album. The lyrics subjectively are similar to Next to Nothing, in that it tells of a broken up relationship from the perspective of both partners. It ends with the heart broken person saying they will fade away from this life, rather than the person moving on like in Next to Nothing. It is dramatic and very whiny in tone and emotion, which fits the lyrics. There is a slight guitar solo, but it doesn't really impress me or carry me anywhere. This song sounds pretty standard in terms of modern rock music with nothing truly noteworthy, and it tends to drag on. 1 out of 5 stars.
2. I Will Not Bow
This is the main single of the album, and it is also the song that set my expectations high for the album (what better way to follow Phobia than to write a hard rock album with awesome songs like this?). It is a very intense hard rock song that grabs your attention and puts you in a triumphant mood, like you could beat Ninja Gaiden without cheats. The lyrics tell of a man in a struggle who wishes to become victorious and forsake the world to live life on his own terms, one of my favorite songs off the album. My only complaint is that the contrast between this song and the rest of the album it barely fits in. 5 out of 5 stars.
3. Crawl
A very angst driven song, but not exactly like Topless. The lyrics tell of a couple in an abusive relationship, with lyrics from the perspectives of both people. The lyrics end with the victim becoming as evil as the abuser. The mood of the instruments fits the emotion of the lyrics well, but I get the feeling the instruments are being there purely for support to just let Ben's voice do all of the emotional styling. Better than Fade Away, but still nothing special. 3 out of 5 stars.
4. Give Me a Sign
This is the second single on the album. Somewhat slow, and very minimalistic, this song has a very whiny tonality to it as well. The lyrics tell of someone who is near death and feels no hope anymore, and someone else who is a loved one who wants to save the dying person. I recognize that the rhythm guitar is trying to make the same hypnotic echo effect like it did in Phobia, but it just comes off as mellow dramatic. The only real thing I like about this song are the lyrics in the "God help me I've come undone" and "There's something buried in the words" parts (the latter of which is the climax.) Somewhat enjoyable, but fails to be enjoyable as a whole. 3 out of 5 stars
5. Hopeless
It starts off with a slow and somewhat promising intro, but breaks into generic guitar riffs. The emotion goes from feeling somewhat lively, then to the person realizing his fate. The lyrics tell of someone who drowned themselves out of guilt and their spirit is starting their descent into hell. The instrumentation bothers me at parts, but I really like Ben's singing in this song, I can tell he actually cared about this one, plus there is a good balance between the screaming and clean vocals. Overall a decently enjoyable song 4 out of 5 stars.
6. What Lies Beneath
The tonality of this song is very fight filled, you can tell they wrote this about a struggle. The meaning of this song is yet again about an abusive relationship from both perspectives, except the victim is calling their partner the devil. This song is the closest I can hear to Phobia and We Are Not Alone, albeit a tiny bit whiny. This is the best hard rock song on the album next to I Will Not Bow. Overall a very enjoyable piece. 4 out of 5 stars.
7. Anthem of the Angels
This song starts off low key with a violin and a cello playing together, then breaks into heavy guitars. It returns to the classic style of Breaking Benjamin of soft and hard parts, and building up to a climax. The lyrics tell of someone who is near a dying loved one, and at the start of the song the caring person says they wish to join to the dying person, but later in the song the caring person accepts that their loved one is going to die. I like how clearly the bass comes through and how good the string section sounds, along with how good Ben's singing is. Overall this track is probably the best on the album so far. 5 out of 5 stars.
8. Lights Out
This is the third single on the album. The emotion and sound in this album are very angst driven and very threatening. The lyrics in this song tell of the Devil commenting on how is going to kill someone by corrupting their life then poisoning their body while saying he can't afford to care for the person because it would make him stop trying to kill the person. The opening of the song is a little weak, though they do switch between heavy and soft. I think they do a good job of painting the picture of the lyrics, and the song becomes highly repetitive. The only really enjoyable part of this song is the short guitar solo. Overall an annoyingly repetitive song. 2 out of 5 stars.
9. Dear Agony
This song reminds a little of Here We Are, but a bit heavier. The emotion is very sincere and passionate. The lyrics describe the singers struggle with a lung infection in how he wishes to fight it but he feels highly threatened by death. The song is beautiful sounding, but perhaps too beautiful, as one might expect the song to be more desperate then going into triumph and hope. Instead it goes from passion into triumph, and then desperation in the chorus, which doesn't make much sense to me. The song is repetitive and has no climax, but is overall enjoyable, albeit somewhat confusing. 4 out of 5 stars.
10. Into the Nothing
Yet another very angst driven song, the song goes from heavy to soft. From what I can gather of the lyrics the song is about a couple where one of the partners is evil, and the other partner is trying to redeem the other partner as they are trying to escape something evil coming into their lives. I like how the bass manages to be prominent but not overpowering (the bass is a bit reminiscent of Iron Maiden in sound.) The song remains interesting and actually caries me like their older songs do, so this song is effective at creating a good mood and picture. Overall very enjoyable, albeit a bit whiny. 3.5 out of stars.
11. Without You
This song has a very desperate and hopeful sound to it. The lyrics in this song tell of a partner in an abusive relationship who wants to make their partner see the error of their ways, but as the song ends the person realizes it is best to let the abusive one go. In the end the victim forgives the abuser. There is a slight hypnotic sense to this piece, and you can really tell Ben is emoting well in this song. Also the last chorus is very convincing, the climax is great and it leads into a very well written string section. My favorite song off the album, it is a great choice to close the album with. It's only shortcoming is that it doesn't really feel solid to me, just like all of the songs on this album. 5 out of 5 stars.
Audio Mixing:
The mixing in this album is a bit traditional and generic, but it works. The instruments come through very clearly, and the bass in songs like in Anthem of the Angels and Into the Nothing is very prominent but not overpowering. The guitars go from a kind of muddy distortion to a crystal clear reverberation, which is a strange contrast. The drums remain consistent in volume, but the volume is turned down at parts to bring the guitars and string sections (which works, but it is still unfortunate for the drummer.) From what I can tell the instruments remain in both speakers, and they only bring up volume for dramatic effect. I'm pleasantly surprised at parts by the mixing, though I feel the mixing on Phobia was a bit better.
Singing:
The singing is a bit lacking on this album. Ben's scream sounds more tired now rather than filled with energy like it used too. I guess this is bound to happen after so many years of touring and screaming at the top of his lungs (probably with out protecting his voice), I mean just look at Robert Plant and James Hetfield these days. That and his voice is bound to change as he gets older. My other issue is that Ben doesn't really emote as well as he did in Phobia, though he did a good job with With Out You. Ben's natural tone is good, but you can tell he's been smoking and that he is struggling with a lung infection. He does manage to sound good on songs like Hopeless and Anthem of the Angels. Lastly, Ben has finally enunciated his words well enough to create understandable phrases that don't sound awkward or out of time.
Instrumentation:
This is where the album truly suffers. I feel like in every song the instruments were only there for support of the vocals (which are lacking in there own way.) Plus the only solos are for guitar, no bass or drums. The structure is generally the same with their previous albums with the soft and heavy verse to chorus and building to a climax, but without many memorable climaxes. The tonality is generally miserable and very canned in.
What I didn't like:
The songs feel incomplete and canned with unconvincing singing. Plus there was an overall generic feeling to the album.
What I did like:
The string arrangements were very beautiful, and a couple of the songs are worth hearing.
Who would enjoy this album:
Fans of music about personal suffering, and people who like music with implied themes of Christianity.
Overall:
I know I may be sounding a little harsh here, but the album has managed to surprise me with a few of the songs being enjoyable to listen too (I was intending to give the album only one star). I think the album sounds the way it does is because of the singer being at risk of dying from a lung infection and the band almost breaking up (no pun intended). Breaking Benjamin is now on hiatus due to Ben being sick. I would rather have a mediocre album than the group splitting up, but that is what happened with Metallica's St. Anger (though this album is much similar to Re-Load), which shows that change isn't always a good thing. The events behind the writing doesn't excuse the song writing when comparing this album to Phobia because its like we went straight from Master of Puppets to Re-Load (a big unwanted change that feels incomplete and has a lot of filler). Overall the album is okay on its own that may grow on you eventually, but a let down when compared to Phobia because of the incomplete and generic sound. Next time I will start my requests blog by reviewing Led Zeppelin IV by Led Zeppelin.
Rating: ***
I Will Not Bow music video:
Give me a Sign music video:
Lights Out unofficial video:
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