Music Review: Phobia
The Pennsylvania quartet Breaking Benjamin have come a long way since the initial success of "Polyamorous" from their first album Saturate. Phobia, the group's third national release follows up on the growth shown in We Are Not Alone while protraying a more consistent hard edge than the previous effort.
Musical intros and outros aside, all the songs themselves are all worth at least a cursory listen, but there a few significant standouts. The lead single "The Diary of Jane" is an excellent song that establishes an energy level that the rest of the album works to duplicate but doesn't sacrifice lyrical quality in doing so. The following track "Breath" is quite solid. It's not of "Diary.." caliber but it should not be discounted.
Tracks 5-7 are outstanding. "Evil Angel" may not be the most intricate song on the album but I'm for the most part a simpleton. If a song is lyrically solid and has a music track I can enjoy that's all I ask. That said, it's probably my favorite track, either that one or "Dance with the Devil". "Until the End" has a strong lyrical message of strength and perseverance which personally connects with me. It's a very lyrically driven track with somber almost brooding verses balanced by the uplifting chorus. "Dance with the Devil" is again lyrically fairly simple but it works for me. It's a solid and entertaining track which I look forward to hearing live (8/19/06).
The other solid tracks are the lyrically driven "Here We Are" which protrays the standard relationship at a crossroads, but does so quite well. I don't sense as much blame or self-pity as in other songs with the same theme. It appears more like a call for introspection than a standard feud. "Unknown Soldier" is an effective song in the present war climate but it's not on the level of Cold's "When Angels Fly Away" as these tunes go. "Had Enough" is a simple high-energy track about the effects of greed on friendship.
Disappointments are the tracks "Topless" and "You Fight Me" which I couldn't connect with. "You" (track 4) is a decent track which to a degree falls victim to positioning. The instrumental and sound effect intro and outro don't really add anything for me other than providing a sense of completeness.
That's all for the official tracklist but the acoustic piano and cello version of "The Diary of Jane" as a bonus track was a nice capper to an enjoyable musical ride.
Rating: 8.5/10 (will continue to get more than a few listens in the coming days)
Musical intros and outros aside, all the songs themselves are all worth at least a cursory listen, but there a few significant standouts. The lead single "The Diary of Jane" is an excellent song that establishes an energy level that the rest of the album works to duplicate but doesn't sacrifice lyrical quality in doing so. The following track "Breath" is quite solid. It's not of "Diary.." caliber but it should not be discounted.
Tracks 5-7 are outstanding. "Evil Angel" may not be the most intricate song on the album but I'm for the most part a simpleton. If a song is lyrically solid and has a music track I can enjoy that's all I ask. That said, it's probably my favorite track, either that one or "Dance with the Devil". "Until the End" has a strong lyrical message of strength and perseverance which personally connects with me. It's a very lyrically driven track with somber almost brooding verses balanced by the uplifting chorus. "Dance with the Devil" is again lyrically fairly simple but it works for me. It's a solid and entertaining track which I look forward to hearing live (8/19/06).
The other solid tracks are the lyrically driven "Here We Are" which protrays the standard relationship at a crossroads, but does so quite well. I don't sense as much blame or self-pity as in other songs with the same theme. It appears more like a call for introspection than a standard feud. "Unknown Soldier" is an effective song in the present war climate but it's not on the level of Cold's "When Angels Fly Away" as these tunes go. "Had Enough" is a simple high-energy track about the effects of greed on friendship.
Disappointments are the tracks "Topless" and "You Fight Me" which I couldn't connect with. "You" (track 4) is a decent track which to a degree falls victim to positioning. The instrumental and sound effect intro and outro don't really add anything for me other than providing a sense of completeness.
That's all for the official tracklist but the acoustic piano and cello version of "The Diary of Jane" as a bonus track was a nice capper to an enjoyable musical ride.
Rating: 8.5/10 (will continue to get more than a few listens in the coming days)
posted by Aaron at 8:55 AM
1 Comments:
Gracias pour le music review. (Like how I mixed three languages in one sentence there?) "Topless" is one of the four songs I heard on the radio during my Sunday workout (the other three were "Diary", "Dance", and I can't remember the third title though "Evil Angel" sounds familiar). I got the sense from "Topless" that I would enjoy it much more without the annoying beeping noises I assumed were editing fucks. As mentioned, I didn't immediately connect with these songs the way I immediately connected with "Sooner or Later" (which I still want to sing to some people), but based on the review, I might have to drop 10 to see for myself.
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