 | Tracklist:
1. I Wish I May
2. Medicate
3. Polyamorous
4. Skin
5. Natural Life
6. Next to Nothing
7. Water
8. Home
9. Phase
10. No Games
11. Sugarcoat
12. Shallow Bay
| Ranking: #130 for 2002 | |
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On 4 Lists
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| Summary: Still good, creative enough to keep you coming back for more. There is better, but still worthwile and up there with most successful bands. |
1 of 2 thought this review was well written
The year is 2001. The band is Breaking Benjamin. Having two guys leaving a band (Lifer) that was starting to have some mainstream success, and then joining Breaking Benjamin turned out to be good, as Breaking Benjamin has evolved since releasing this as their debut album.
The riffs are good on this album, and the first song shows some promise to set up the album. It may not be mind blowing, but still a good job done by Aaron Fink on guitar. The sound of the guitar is similar throughout the album, but having the dual guitar played by Ben Burnley (who is also the singer) also helps a lot, as it adds more harmony to the album, and gets stuff accomplished with two guitars that you couldn’t normally get done with a single guitar. Examples of this are Sugarcoat and No Games.
The bass is done well, and Mark James makes it very audible, as throughout the whole album I can hear is deep, chunky riffs, driving the songs along. He is a crucial part to the sound of the album, mainly because the dual guitars are so loud, and he can cover some ground, making for a good mix of guitar and bass.
Drums appear to be the only issue with this album for me, as he starts to bore me by the end of the third song (and there are 12). He (formerly Jeremy Hummel) is now not in Breaking Benjamin. Jeremy does some decent work, mixing it up a bit, but it still comes down to the same drum patterns with a few twists and turns, but still not smoking the cigar, if you catch my drift. Ben does some good vocal work, having the good mix of screaming and singing. There is not too much of one or the other, as I can get through the album with a good balance of both. He does a decent job playing the rhythm guitar, just adding to the music.
As many of you may think, it is that Breaking Benjamin can be unoriginal in lyrical and musical structure. I can prove you wrong, and show you that they have some creativity. It is nowhere as good or imaginative as System of a Down for that matter, but still takes a gut or two to do it. The song Home, a bit different lyrically from the album, as it is basically telling the story of The Wizard of Oz. Personally, I don’t think SOAD could pull that off. It was done very well, and I listened to this and then watched the movie. It was pretty cool how it sounded.
Musically, listen to the song No Games as it keeps modulating keys. The intro is odd, and the clean guitar is different from the rest of the album, but it stands out from the rest of the album. Both of these ways of being creative on the CD save it from being a pretty boring CD.
The band shows some Tool influences, along with Nirvana. The bass and guitar are Tool-esque, and Ben and Jeremy with the vocals and drums, respectively, can do a pretty decent Nirvana sound. Some good songs with both influences are Phase,Water and Natural Life. Although most of the album shows bits and pieces of both bands.
Overall, I would recommend you to listen to this album. It is different than most mainstream music, as it possibly stands out above the rest. There is a good enough mix up of the songs to make me listen for more. A good listen for anybody.
Recommended songs:
I Wish I May
Home
Phase
Sugarcoat
Shallow Bay
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| Recent reviews by this author | | | |
Album Rating: 3.5
thought i would do another one.
| | | Album Rating: 1.5
same old stuff acey
your writing is just subpar in a lot of ways
Digging: Converge - Axe To Fall | | | Album Rating: 3.5
do you ever have anything positive to say? about anything, i notice, that when i write a good review you dont respond, but when i write a supposedly bad review, you have all the time in the world to just nag about everything.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
read my __stone sour - stone sour__ review, and tell me if you think it is bad. you never responded to that, after you told me to step it upThis Message Edited On 12.31.06
| | | Album Rating: 1.5
Stop your whining. Every time you write a fucking bad review, I try to help you. And you never listen. And then you write another bad review that looks just like the goddamn one before it, and I say the same thing I've always said and you bitch and complain about it. So why don't you actually listen to the advice I've given you on previous reviews or just go away.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
i've tried to use your damn advice, and when i do, you still bitch about it. I tried to describe more than what i usually do about the whole ****ing album, and you stiil find a way to make me feel bad about how i write my reviews. if i have to write a TBT to make a good review, than so be it.
| | | Album Rating: 1.5
Dude you're like 19 years old. Grow up. You don't have to "feel bad" about the way you write your reviews. Just take the advice that people give you. And yeah it's cool that you're trying but it's not really showing at all. Don't start complaining that I'm pointing out that you wrote a bad review. You've written 41 reviews. Usually by then people are writing differently than they were 20 reviews ago.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
ok. i will try to take my writing to the next level, i'm just not good with taking what is in my brain, and actually spelling it out on paper. you know what i mean?
on the other hand. this album does show a lot of tool influence.
| | | Album Rating: 2
My God this album sucks.
Personally, I don't think your writing is subpar. You just tend to get a little boring and samey. Feel free to inject some of your personality into your reviews...make it more interesting to read, know what I mean? Take me for example: irl, I'm a really, really sardonic and rude person (part of my charm). That carries over into my reviews- I make sarcastic jokes, poke fun at the artist, draw ridiculous comparisons just for the sake of being funny...it just ropes people in so that they can't stop reading.
Otherwise, fine review. Keep at it, you'll get the right balance of crap eventually.
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....Hep Kat's back? :confused:
Cool.
Digging: Electric Wizard - Dopethrone
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Hep Kat gave some good advice. I'd give an example using myself but I don't have a personality.
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Stop your whining. Every time you write a fucking bad review, I try to help you. And you never listen. And then you write another bad review that looks just like the goddamn one before it, and I say the same thing I've always said and you bitch and complain about it. So why don't you actually listen to the advice I've given you on previous reviews or just go away.
I'm sorry but chan is right there
read my __stone sour - stone sour__ review, and tell me if you think it is bad. you never responded to that, after you told me to step it up
It wasn't really any better than this.
My advice is just to stop starting a review with band history and try to make an interesting introduction, don't say things like "the riffs are good on this album" because it doesn't tell us anything really, I mean Sonic Youth make good riffs and then Trivium (however much i hate them) make good riffs. You have to actually try to describe it as if you're explaining to someone who has never even heard of Breaking Bob The Builder of what-ever-they-are-called.
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You're 19? I thought you were 13 :lol:
I don't think anything needs to be added to the criticism.
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^^ So true.
Dude 41 reviews? And this is your best? Even my reviews are better than this :/.
Digging: Church of Misery - Houses of the Unholy
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Even my reviews are better than this
thats an understatement
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Just look back over all your reviews and read the advice that people give you and actually try to use it in your reviews. Also read reviews of good reviewers such as mynameischan, JXD and Neoteric and get ideas from them.
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Hep Kat!
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Also read reviews of good reviewers such as mynameischan, JXD, Neoteric, and MrKite and get ideas from them.
Good advice, right there.^
But seriously it is.
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slight alteration of the quote there
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But yeah, MrKite has some decent reviews as well which would help... i guess
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