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Dear Agony

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Untitled

Dear Agony is the fourth studio album by rock band Breaking Benjamin. It was released on September 29, 2009. A Best Buy edition, Japanese import version, and Zune exclusive version were also released, all of which feature bonus content. This is the last album to contain work from all featured band members except Ben Burnley due to the legal issues between Burnley and the two members Aaron Fink and Mark Klepaski during 2011, and drummer Chad Szeliga departing in 2013 over creative differences.

History

Breaking Benjamin began writing for Dear Agony during 2008. The recording process began in September, leading to its release one year later. The cover of the album is an MRI scan of frontman Benjamin Burnley's head.[1] Burnley has cited Dear Agony as the first album he has written sober.[2] After the album's release it entered the Billboard 200 Chart at #4 selling roughly 134,000 copies in its first week, slightly more than Phobia. It also topped the iTunes download charts in the first week of its release.[3] Dear Agony was certified Platinum by the RIAA on July 11, 2016,[4] and has sold 877,000 copies as of July 2016.[5]

"Lights Out" was used to promote the video game, Halo: Reach.

Promotion

On September 23, 2009, Breaking Benjamin released an online browser game constructed from Adobe Flash which is a parody of Altered Beast, aptly titled "Altered Benjamin". The game contains three levels and plays the same as the original, except the player controls vocalist Benjamin Burnley and the three bosses are each other member of the band respectively. The game also features the debut of the songs, "Fade Away" and "Crawl".

Limited edition copies of Dear Agony purchased at Best Buy also included a bonus DVD that features the band's six music videos, including a previously unreleased version of the video for "I Will Not Bow". The version on the DVD is of the band only and does not contain any footage from the feature-film Surrogates, unlike the main version released online.

On September 29, 2009, "I Will Not Bow" was released as a downloadable track for the video games Rock Band and Rock Band 2.[6] On February 16, 2010, "Give Me a Sign", "Until the End" and "Sooner or Later" were released as downloadable content for Guitar Hero 5.[7]

Singles

"I Will Not Bow" was released for sale on August 31 as the album's first single. It was released to the radio and the band's MySpace page on August 11, 2009 instead of the planned date, August 17, 2009 due to a leak by their hometown radio station, WBSX. This single is featured in the film Surrogates, with the music video containing scenes from the movie. On November 13, 2009, the official music video for "I Will Not Bow" was released on YouTube. The original version of the music video, however, did not contain scenes from the movie Surrogates.[8]

"Give Me a Sign" was released as a radio single on January 5, 2010.[9] The music video was released on March 10, 2010 through the band's MySpace website and also on Vevo. The video can also be seen on YouTube.

According to AOL Radio Blog and Rawkpit.com, "Lights Out" was announced as the third single and it went to radio on June 15, according to All Access.[10][11]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
About.com[12]
AllMusic[13]
Consequence of SoundF[14]
Sputnikmusic3.0/5[15]

Tim Grierson of About.com stated "Ultimately, Dear Agony demonstrates Breaking Benjamin’s craftsmanship if not their brilliant creativity."[12] James Christopher Monger from AllMusic noted that the band's "fourth foray into the crowded waters of early 21st century alternative metal/post-grunge feels a lot like their first three. That's good news for longtime fans of the brooding Pennsylvania quartet." Monger compared the album's sound to that of a "well-oiled machine".[13] Alex Young at Consequence of Sound opined that "Nothing on Dear Agony is worth the purchase, nothing," also noting "the album as a whole feels dated and charmless."[14]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Benjamin Burnley, except "I Will Not Bow", "Hopeless", "Lights Out" and "Without You" composed by Burnley and Jasen Rauch

No.TitleLength
1."Fade Away"3:16
2."I Will Not Bow"3:36
3."Crawl"3:58
4."Give Me a Sign"4:17
5."Hopeless"3:20
6."What Lies Beneath"3:34
7."Anthem of the Angels"4:02
8."Lights Out"3:33
9."Dear Agony"4:18
10."Into the Nothing"3:43
11."Without You"4:18
Total length:41:55
Japanese bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
12."Without You" (Acoustic)3:42
13."Give Me a Sign" (Acoustic)4:16
Total length:49:53

Personnel

Production list acquired from AllMusic[13]

Breaking Benjamin
Additional musicians
  • Rachel Golub - violin on "Anthem of the Angels" and "Without You"
  • David Eggar - cello on "Anthem of the Angels" and "Without You"
  • Jonathan Dinklage - violin, viola on "Anthem of the Angels" and "Without You"
  • Neil Zineatser- additional guitar, bass
  • Helda Coccen-Mihan- backing vocals, synthesizers
  • Helen Bed- drums, bass, synthesizers
Production

Chart positions

References

  1. ^ Choman, Alexander (October 4, 2009). "Breaking Benjamin releases 4th album". Republican & Herald. Archived from the original on February 1, 2013. Retrieved October 25, 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ Lello, Michael Breaking the Silence The Weekender (September 15, 2009). Retrieved on 2-09-10.
  3. ^ [1][dead link]
  4. ^ "RIAA - Gold & Platinum - July 14, 2016". RIAA. Retrieved 2016-07-15.
  5. ^ Titus, Christa (July 15, 2016). "Watch Breaking Benjamin's 'Ashes of Eden' Video: Exclusive Premiere". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media.
  6. ^ "Rock Band Weekly: Alice in Chains, Breaking Benjamin, Just Kait, Kula Shaker". joystiq.com. 2009-09-25.
  7. ^ "Guitar Guitar Hero(R)'s February Downloadable Content Lineup Packs a Powerful Punch With Fresh Music From Top Bands". PR Newswire. 2010-01-28.
  8. ^ 13 november 2009 (2009-11-13). "Breaking Benjamin - I Will Not Bow OFFICIAL". YouTube. Retrieved 2010-03-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ "Future Releases on Alternative Radio Stations, Independent Artist Song Releases |". Allaccess.com. Retrieved 2010-03-02.
  10. ^ May 26th 2010 11:37AM by Matthew Wilkening (2010-05-26). "Breaking Benjamin, 'Lights Out' - New Song". AOL Radio Blog. Retrieved 2012-02-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ [2][dead link]
  12. ^ a b Grierson, Tim. "Breaking Benjamin - 'Dear Agony' Review". about.com. Retrieved 2009-12-08.
  13. ^ a b c Monger, James Christopher. "Dear Agony > Overview". Allmusic. Retrieved 2009-09-28.
  14. ^ a b "Breaking Benjamin – Dear Agony - Album Reviews - Consequence of Sound". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  15. ^ Boy, Davey (September 27, 2009). "Breaking Benjamin - Dear Agony Review". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 2009-09-28.
  16. ^ "Breaking Benjamin Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
  17. ^ "Charts.nz – Breaking Benjamin – Dark Before Dawn". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
  18. ^ "Ｂｒｅａｋｉｎｇ　ＢｅｎｊａｍｉｎのCDアルバムランキング、Ｂｒｅａｋｉｎｇ　Ｂｅｎｊａｍｉｎのプロフィールならオリコン芸能人事典-ORICON STYLE". Oricon.co.jp. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
  19. ^ "Breaking Benjamin Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
  20. ^ "Breaking Benjamin Chart History (Top Alternative Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
  21. ^ "Breaking Benjamin Chart History (Digital Albums)".[dead link] Billboard. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
  22. ^ "Breaking Benjamin Chart History (Top Hard Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
  23. ^ "Breaking Benjamin Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
  24. ^ "Breaking Benjamin Chart History (Top Tastemaker Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
  25. ^ "Best of 2010 - Billboard Top 200". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 2010-12-31.
  26. ^ "RIAA Database Search Results". Recording Industry Association of America.
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