Review: Breaking Benjamin – Phobia

Hard rock, metal, nu-metal, screamo? Call it what you will (not screamo!) but Breaking Benjamin lie in the same vein of the hard rock acts nowadays – Three Days Grace, Finger Eleven, Trapt, etc.

I picked up a Breaking Benjamin album We Are Not Alone a few years and was blown away. Amazing stuff on this album, only to be outdone by their previous album Saturate which I had picked up at a used CD store.

So with this knowledge in hand (and downloading every live track known to man – did you know that they started out as a Tool cover band? If you can cover Tool, you are amongst the rock Gods.), I, along with Eric and Mike have been anticipating the release of the third album Phobia.

The other day I was thinking there must be something new coming out so I dropped by Music World to discover I was correct and there it was, priced at a modest $12.99, you can’t go wrong!

Hard rock is best delivered in the car so I ended up listening to this album quite a bit in the next few days. What’s the verdict?

Undecided at this point. At this moment, I have to say it’s not as good as the first two albums but have you ever had those albums that you listen to and you think “Well, it’s alright…” but the more effort you put into it, the more you fall in love with it and then you realize it is the best thing you’ve ever listened to and it ends up on your list of albums to take with you to a deserted isle? Who knows if it will end up this way for me? At this moment in time, every time I listen to it again, the songs get more dynamic and pull on some musical heart strings of mine. That’s a good indication that this may become one of those albums.

I find this happens a lot when you get used to a certain sound from an artist and then they change it on you. Let’s take Metallica’s Load for example. Sure, it sounds different than their previous albums. Does this make it a bad album? HECK NO! This is a diamond in the rough and once you get the whole “It ain’t Metallica like we know and love!” out of your head, you learn to appreciate it a whole lot more! But I won’t apply this argument to St. Anger. Gak…what a pile of bantha poodoo. Kirk, where are the solos man? The solos!

So, if you’re into the new hard rock/metal scene and enjoy the new stuff coming out from all the bands, pick up some Breaking Benjamin – preferably the first or second album to get you started. Then when you’re hoooked, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed by picking up Phobia. I’m not. It’s not like it’s Everclear’s last album which has prompted me never to buy another Everclear album before listening to it. I felt the same way after The Cranberries Bury The Hatchet. Ick.

iplaying: Breath – Breaking Benjamin: Phobia