Breaking Benjamin Album: “We Are Not Alone”

Well, wadd'ya know. After one promising album, Breaking Benjamin tighten up and refine their sound for a superb second album, and befriend Smashing Pumpkin Billy Corgan. Although "Saturate" had the occasional lighter musical touch, "We Are Not Alone" find the BB's really getting into the dynamics of recording. Even the rocking first single "So Cold" shows that they have figured out how to use the studio as an instrument. It still rips like a locomotive, but has a solid sense of texture. So does "Breakdown," which rocks hard but also includes a seriously catchy chorus.

Most indicative of this band's growth are "Forget It" and "Rain." Two of the songs co-written by Corgan, they are the ballads that find lead singer Benjamin Burnley jettisoning his nu-metal growl and actually singing. (They're also 10 times better than anything on Corgan's over-hyped Zwan project.) It makes for a grandiose touch to "Rain" and makes "Forget It" sound like a hit single. It also helps guitar hero in the making Aaron Fink show off his range on both the electric to acoustic leads. Breaking Benjamin beat the sophomore jinx here, and remain a band to watch.

(...)

1) So Cold 10/10 - simply amazing

2) Simple Design 9/10 - great chorus, very catchy

3) Follow 10/10 - i love this song, ben has a great voice in this song

4) Firefly 10/10 - first song from this album i heard....fell in love with it first time i heard it

5) Break My Fall 10/10 - i love the chorus...

6) Forget It 6/10 - forget it....not worth listening to

7) Sooner Or Later 10/10 - probably me 3rd fav song on here

8) Breakdown 9/10 - i love the beggining..where its soft music...then u hear "BREAKDOWN!!!"

9) Away 10/10 - omg fricken awesome....2nd fav song

10) Believe 6/10 - somthing bout it i dont like

11) Rain 7/10 - dont like it....but its a nice way to change the pace in the album

yea this album is awesome.....breaking benjamin is like royalty to me...considering i am more into hip-hop....but BREAKING BENJAMIN = ROYALTY

I heard these guys for the first time on MTV the other night and came here immediately after watching the "So Cold" video! Went out and bought the cd the next day and let me tell you the rest of the album holds up its end. This CD rocks!!!!!!!

I heard good things about their debut album, but can't say much personally since their sophomore is the only one I own. So here we go. My two favorite tracks are 'Firefly' and 'Rain'. 'Firefly' is great in its beats and lyrics, and 'Rain', dear God what a ballad. I'm hooked. The only warning I have is DON'T listen to the paralental advisory on the front. It has no reason to be there. They only say the 'f' word a couple of times and it's not even in every song. Geeze, that committee really needs to get a life.

It was a few weeks after I bought this CD that I realized it was not the original version of the album. Unlike, say, Eminem, Breaking Benjamin has put effort into making the edited version of "We Are Not Alone" sound every bit as good as the explisite version, if not better. Highly recommended! This has some awesome songs. The first song, So Cold, has been tearing up the radio recently, u've probably heard it. It has some powerful riffs, but it isn't the best song on the disc. From Simple Design to Forget It, the album gets steadily softer, shifting into a more ballad-esque style. The tone of the record really transforms at the other huge highlight, Breakdown, which is, if not heavy metal, then at least hard rock. Away and Believe follow similar patterns. The closer, Rain, is my least favorite song, but it's still worthwhile. I suggest buying the entire album (and for goodness' sakes, the clean version), but ill rate the individual tracks below if u want to download them from iTunes etcetera:

-So Cold (10/10)

-Simple Design (9/10)

-Follow (8/10)

-Firefly (6/10)

-Break My Fall (10/10)

-Forget It (8/10)

-Sooner or Later (8/10)

-Breakdown (10/10)

-Away (10/10)

-Believe (10/10)

-Rain (7/10)

If u like this CD u will probably also like Breaking Benjamin's EP release "So Cold", which has live versions of So Cold (on acoustic), Away, and Believe, as well as a song from Halo 2 called Blow Me Away. And as a bonus, they threw in a song called Ladybug.