Breaking Benjamin – We Are Not Alone

They Are Not Alone

Turn on your local alternative rock radio station and you’ll hear it – appropriately titled “mainstream rock,” they are the hoards of bands that have had their original sounds polished up and glazed over in an effort to garner interest from those who might otherwise think that rock music is “scary.” Breaking Benjamin have neatly placed themselves along the frontlines of the mainstream rock formula that the music industry insists upon. We Are Not Alone unashamedly garners influence from other past popular alt-rock groups, with an added emphasis on the Smashing Pumpkins hard-yet-poignant sound, thanks in part to some help from Billy Corgan himself, on guitar.While most mainstream bands fall hopelessly into oblivion after their debut album’s success, Breaking Benjamin seem poised to make a legitimate attempt at letting their music progress past the four chord, hard-rock crunch, although that does remain the staple in their musical diet. Songs like “So Cold” and “Breakdown” are straight from the alt rock playbook and manage to connect accordingly, ripe with catchy, well crafted hooks blended seamlessly with a unique vocal integration. Vocalist Benjamin Burnley has enough of a Southern-esque drawl to his voice to keep things interested throughout. But the real story behind We Are Not Alone is the bands willingness to implement more acoustic orientated songwriting, which stands out at times yet falls flat at others Still the attempt alone is worth merit.

Although Breaking Benjamin choose to stay in the more ‘shallow’ end of the rock pool, We Are Not Alone’s alternative rock prowess proves that there is still enough bite to keep on playing.