After reviewing all of their albums (not their EPs, sorry but I don't have any of them. If you want me to review their EPs I will do so my requests blog) I can say they are an interesting band with a unique sounds. However,they also have a couple of quirks.
The quirks are in every album they wrote they had hard to understand lyrics, as the songs were written more about blending with the music, and not for creating a story like in Folk music. Another quirk is the way the signer swears sometimes, in his accent it sounds a little funny, and he also tends to rush the swearing sometimes. That and its just that Ben sounds funny when he says words sometimes. Also, the band tends to use the same song structure and subjects a lot of the time of soft verse and hard chorus, with a climax, solo, and conclusion (the subjects being about struggle, suffering, bad relationships, and breaking up.) Lastly, for some reason this band has been through a total of six drummers, which is two more people than how many bass players Metallica has been through. lol
Quirks aside, they have a very unique kind of sound that involves a balance between all of the instruments all it only eventually became focused on guitar and vocals (which are good in their own right, Ben has a very unique voice). At the start with Saturate they were full of energy eager to let every instrument have an intro or a solo. However, when We Are Not Alone came out they cut back on the solos, but they were still pretty prominent. In W.A.N.A. the band took a much heavier approach to the song writing (but also made sure to add in some soft songs). In Phobia there were few solos, but the band members played pivotal parts together in creating the band's best sounding album to date. It was only in Dear Agony where the guitar and vocals took center stage, but it was written and executed poorly. This is most likely because of the emotion of the songs, and because Breaking Benjamin had thrived off a healthy balance for so long. I'd say every musician in their group is very skilled at what they do, even the latest drummer (though each drummer has had their own distinct style.)
For years I was proud to say that there was a modern alternative metal band that wasn't "Emo", but unfortunately Dear Agony fits in that stereotype (minus the post-pop punk feel). Though Dear Agony has disappointed me, it does make me happy to say that they only had one week album. (Ratings of albums at the bottom of the page.)
Another interesting thing that I noticed back in 2007 was how often Breaking Benjamin was used in Animae Motion Videos as a soundtrack, and how perfectly their music fits in with video games. I know for a fact that Ben is an avid video game player, which is probably why they did Blow Me Away for Halo 2. To me it is not unlikely that he choose to write his music in a similar style to most game compositions (see the guitar cover of "The Diary of Jane" below and see what I mean).
For me personally, it may just be the audience that Breaking Benjamin targets, but I can relate a lot to some of their songs and lyrics as they have been here helping me through the years.
Overall, even if Dear Agony was a disappointment, I am proud to say that Breaking Benjamin was my first rock band that I truly got into.
Ratings:
Saturate: *****
We Are Not Alone: ****
Phobia: *****
Dear Agony: ***
Just try and tell me you CAN'T hear this as the boss music in a Megman X Zero game!
Diary of Jane Guitar cover:
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