Review Summary: An acoustic remix album that features some solid guest vocals.
If you come to this album hoping for songs that are similar to previous acoustic versions Breaking Benjamin has done, such as "So Cold", "Diary of Jane", "Polyamorous", and "Until the End", where the songs were completely re-recorded (some were live versions, so of course they were entirely re-recorded) then your reaction to Aurora will likely be, " wtf is this? It sounds like they just took old vocal recordings and reused them." And, please correct me if I'm wrong, that sentiment would be correct. The majority of the vocals on the album appear to be recycled. So how harshly you judge this album may depend largely on what your expectations for how it "should" have been done are. If you feel strongly that it's lazy musicianship to put out an acoustic album where the majority of the vocals are recycled, then I am not going to try and convince you that this album meets your standard. It pretty clearly doesn't. However, if you're willing to see this primarily as a remix album, then you might be inclined to give Aurora a more generous rating. A bunch of newly recorded vocals aren't really, as far as I know, expected in a remix. So, if you're judging Aurora as a remix album, the recycled vocals don't really count against it.
First, I'll review the one new song that is in what I primarily see as a remix album. It features guest vocals from Scooter Ward, who performes competently, though I think it's the weakest guest appearance on the album. Lyrically, it's classic Breaking Benjamin style poetry that feels reminiscent of songs like "Dark of You" and "Forget It". "Sorrow has led" the writer to a place of discouragement with the state of the world and there is a longing for the beauty of heaven to come and bring salvation. There is a version of the song on YouTube that does not include the guest vocals, and I like that version more because the verses seem to flow better. They just seem a little choppy in the Scooter Ward version. Not bad enough to hurt the song much, but enough that I prefer the version that only includes Benjamin Burnely's voice. So, I'd give the "Ben only" version that's going around a 4.5 and the Scooter version a 4.
Then comes the worst part of the album. And that is the five songs which use mostly (or all) recycled vocals, don't have guest appearances, and aren't remixed in a way that is superior to the original. Oh yeah, plus the 5 songs are only taken from only three albums and 4 of them are from their two latest albums. Ouch. Now none of them are terribly cringy remixes. But none of them improve upon or significantly alter the original. Which leaves me to wonder, what's the point? They are enjoyable enough to listen to and have some good strings added into them, but there's just nothing about them that would make me ever choose to listen to them over the original. "Tourniquet" had the potential to at least turn a very heavy song into a a completely different experience, but it's still heavy enough that I may as well just listen to the original. "So Cold" has to be my favorite song of the bunch because it at least uses the strings in a very clever way at about the 3:50 mark. There are some other stings parts that are kind of cool, but nothing to really give me any reason to ever choose to listen to the remix over the original, thus leaving me to wonder again what the point was. So, I'll give "So Cold" a 2.5 and the rest of them get a 2. If a remix leaves you not seeing why you would ever choose to hear it over the original I just don't see why it deserves a good rating, even if it is still an enjoyable enough listen.
But then we have the real meat of the album, and the reason why I'm overall pretty happy with the release. Michael Barnes of Red, Spencer Chamberlain of Underoath, Lacy Sturm of Flyleaf, and Adam Gontier of Three Days Grace each get a guest appearance. Now if you think guest vocals are a cheap way to "improve" songs, I can see why you might feel that way. But what they do for me (so long as they are well done) is give me a reason to at least sometimes want to hear those versions instead of the originals. And that result is precisely what a remix needs in order for me to give it a positive rating and view it as being a successful remix.
"Red Cold River" would have actually been good even without the guest vocals from Chamberlain because it's pretty significantly less heavy than the original. Instead of screams for the, "run, run, run, red cold river" part, it is redone with catchy clean vocals. I totally prefer the new take on that part of the song over the screams that were in the original. I like screams sometimes, but never really thought they went well with that particular song. The remix still has a heavy feel to it, no doubt about that. But it changes/mellows the song out just enough to make it a new experience even without the guest vocals. Chamberlain's appearance is solid. Good harmonies, great back and forths, and his voice works quite well for the parts of the song where he is featured. Probably my favorite track on the album, and it gets a 5.
"Failure" is a really cool listening experience for anyone who likes Barnes' voice and is just gushing with excitement to hear him singing, "tear the whole world down" and taking the overall lead on the chorus. I know, I sound fan boyish af, but I can't help it! It's a very good collaboration if the idea of Barnes and Burnely coming together and Barnes getting to really take over for a chorus on a Breaking Benjamin song is appealing to you. For Gontier's guest vocals in "Dance With the Devil", he also takes the lead in the chorus, and gets the lead in the pre-chorus as well. I've been a fan of Adam ever since I first heard Three Days Grace's self titled release over a decade and a half ago, and I am not going to pretend that this collaboration wasn't something of a dream come true for me. The two of them sound very good together. "Dear Agony" is definitely done as a full on duet. Lacy is prominent throughout the verses, chorus, and even gets the last word in the bridge. Giving her that solo "I feel nothing anymore" to conclude the bridge (though the "I feel nothing anymore" that concludes the song features them both) was a fantastic decision and emphasizes that it was a perfect song to bring her in on. Not gonna lie, I give those three all 5's as well. My reasoning? The originals (these songs were very well picked and thankfully each from different albums) were all songs that I would give a 5 to, the guest appearances made them even better, and the remixed instrumentals did nothing to hurt them. I'm not going to give remixes that are an improvement over the original a lower rating, so they naturally each qualify for 5.
So, that's four songs that get 2's four songs that get 5's a 2.5 for "So Cold" and a 4 for the version of "Far Away" that features Scooter, which equals a total of 34.5, which rounds to a 3.5 for the purposes of my overall rating of the album. You may disagree with my rating, but you know how I reached it. Yes, it's mostly a remix release, not a remake album. And yeah, half of the songs have no real reason to exist. Hell, they should have just released this as a short remix EP, cut out all of the songs that don't have guest vocals, and added in the version of "Far Away" that doesn't feature Scooter as a bonus track. I would have given that release a 5/5.. But, alas, I just can't give remixes that don't give me any reason to return to them a good rating. In conclusion, the new song is excellent, though the YouTube version with just Ben is better, the songs with guest vocals are all superb (and actually give me no reason to ever really care to return to the original versions), and those songs manage to make this remix album worth checking out.
