I have this rule against plugging bands but I am gonna do it cause I found a sweet one. What am I listening to while I work tonight? http://www.myspace.com/theanimalsatnight, them. Their new Cd - Cut to chase and fade - hot, live and sexy on itunes.com on November 17th.

Now I could lie and say I have known this band for a long time but I am truly a johnny come lately... and I am sad that my ears were denied the pleasure of their sound weeks ago :(
No really, I am pouting here.
Hello my dj friends, this band is indie (1 point) electronica (2 points) and soul (5 points) so drink up while the music is fresh.

Are you still here? CLICK THE FRICKEN LINK. Please. Oh suck it up ladies, click it. Every single lesbian in here (and most of the men) reading this are animals in one way or another. Deny it? Please, I have seen your 'too drunk too fuck' night pictures. SCARY STUFF. Therefore you owe me...
Oh, Plus..this band is the shit. Coming up hot and fast and blowing up in your face. So get on board before you come all alone while your friends are out at the newest animals concert, singing at the top of your lungs while you snuggle a lonely wine cooler and tear into your ice.
Click. Click. Click. Click. Click, Clicked yet?
I am Ria Goff, this is what I am listening to and you should be clicking cause I am giving these animals 5 out of 5 stars.
:P Love, peace and books.

I know there is a whole handful of you out there desperate to know what I am working to this week (OK so maybe not desperate, maybe curious? a little?)
Well it is Breaking Benjamin's new CD dear agony. I love it. So much. I am a huge fan of this band and my wife actually grew up about 5 minutes away from its lead singer, Benjamin. So I expected the CD would be good, palatable.. yes I love to ingest my music like a fine wine. I, however, did not expect it to rock me back on my heels and blow my mind.

In true BB style the style starts out heavy and unapologetic effectively catching your attention and making it hard for you to breathe under the weight of the emotions Ben is piling on top of you and making you process. Every single thing he felt whether it be anger, angst or pain is portrayed to you through the raw vocals and mind capturing lyrics. To quote this song
"Fast I Fade Away - It's almost over
Hold on
Slow I suffocate - I'm cold and broken
Alone"

Who hasn't felt this way? But when you did did you write an amazing song and make me feel that you felt this way? This song left me feeling like I am understood by Ben and his boys. Hard to feel alone when someone understands you so well.

I will not bow really doesn't need an introduction. Not only was it used in the new movie Surrogates, starring Bruce Willis and his horrible hair, it has also taken over the radio waves and it was a warning about how this CD was going to affect your life musically, mentally and emotionally. Breaking Benjamin did not bow, bend and they will not fade because of the exquisite way they write each song.
 
"I will not bow
I will not break
I will shut the world away
I will not fall
I will not fade
I will take your breath away"

Crawl has something in it we have all experienced. The feeling of love slipping away:
"Live! Fight!
Crawl back inside!
Sick! Blind!
Love left behind
And I won't live your weak wicked lie
You pulled me in
I'm one step behind"

Let us hope that when Ben catches up to his faceless anger he has a newer, angrier CD for us next time. I love this CD... and I wouldn't want them to change it for anything and this coming tour is looking promising but who wouldn't want another Had enough from this wonderfully evil man?


Give me a sign
You have clearly given us a sign that as a band you are not likely to fade away anytime. This being said let's discuss the song.

I think the line I can feel you fall away is melancholy and self explaining. I just wanna hug him. I really do. I guess this is because I see a lot of Ben in my own son who is also a song writer. Though mine is only 14. Let us hope he has a Burnleyesque quality as he grows up. Though I would love for his sadness to dissipated when the guitar is put down. On with the song!

"No longer the lost
No longer the same
And I can see you starting to break
I'll keep you alive
If you show me the way
Forever - and ever
The scars will remain
I'm falling apart
Leave me forever in the dark"

I will admit this chorus makes me want to cry and has actually caused me to give in to this need. If you are all burly and male than you can deny the significance of this message and pretend you have to sneeze to clear up the confusion about the tears gathering in the corners of your eyes but I will say this to you, liar. Don't be afraid to be emotional. Ben isn't and the rest of the band would follow him into a burning building to save a kitten if that is what it took to write a good CD. I actually have no doubts that Ben could make a good, heart breaking and emotionally charged song out of such a situation but let's spare him from anymore flames. His emotions seem to be hot enough.

"Hopeless
I am falling down
FILTHY
I can't wake up
I can not hold on
I will not let go
Worthless
It's over now
Guilty
There's no way out
I can not hold on
I will not let go"

Had Jack said this in titanic he'd of lived and his lover would have drowned. One amazing twist of fate that would have served the story better. I kid. Kinda. I worry that the review I am writing now is not as strong as Ben's words. Wait.. I am being silly. Of course they aren't.
Don't let go Ben! You have millions out there just waiting to pull you to shore.

What Lies beneath? I will tell you that what I have found beneath this song is amazing amount of intangibly, well written and complex thoughts, feelings, emotions and beats. Have you listened to this song? Really listened? Have you? Go do it. I will wait.
*Does a sudoko* .. Did you listen?
Ok, on we go.

"Here we go
Does it Hurt?
Say goodbye
To this world
I will not be undone
Come to life
It gets worse

All in all
You're no good
You don't cry
Like you should
I'll be gone
When I fall
Your sad life
Says it all"

*Sob* I WANNAAAA HUGGG BEENNNNNNNNNN. Ok now that that is said. This poor guy. I have no idea who he is singing to or about but I feel for him. I really do. How can you not? listen to it again. I have more puzzles.

Anthem of the Angels

This song hurts so much. I recently lost a loved one so the lines

"White walls surround us
No light will touch your face again
Rain taps the window
As we sleep among the dead
Days go on forever
But I have not left your side
We can chase the dark together
If you go then so will I"

Hearing and feeling these words of this brilliant song is crushing, emotionally draining as it makes me sob like a little girl who has lost her puppy and something more. There are song writers who can reach out and for the briefest of moments, touch your heart but Breaking Benjamin often charges right past that brief touch and sets up  camp somewhere near the center of said heart and strums the heart strings. The ache you feel is the same one Ben felt when he wrote this song and the ache he feels extends beyond our understanding.

Lights Out

Multiple times on this Cd you will hear Ben refer to himself as a monster. I have met and spoke to him several times and the image of the monster that he conjures for himself just doesn't stick for me. We are different with different people though and perhaps to someone else he is made to feel like a monster. Relationships are hard but we are hear to discuss the song so...

"Now you want to take me down
As if I even care
I am the monster in your head
and I thought you'd learn by now
It seems you haven't yet
I am the venom in your skin
And now your life is broken"

I do not think they made anti venom for such things. Good luck. The song itself is wonderfully written, moving, angrier than some of the others on the CD and generally a good song. I love this CD. Sensing a theme? Onward.

Oh, Dear agony, oh
Hold on. I will show you my favorite part of this song:

"I have nothing left to give
I have found the perfect end
You were made to make it hurt
Disappear into the dirt
Carry me to heaven's arms
Light the way and let me go
Take the time to take my breath
I will end where I began

And I will find the enemy within
Because I can feel it crawl beneath my skin

Dear Agony
Just let go of me
Suffer slowly
Is this the way it's got to be?
Dear Agony

Dear Agony
Just let go of me
Suffer slowly
Is this the way it's got to be?
Don't bury me
Faceless enemy
I'm so sorry
Is this the way it's gotta be?
Dear Agony

Suddenly
The lights go out
Let forever
Drag me down
I will fight for one last breath
I will fight until the end

And I will find the enemy within
Because I can feel it crawl beneath my skin

Dear Agony
Just let go of me
Suffer slowly
Is this the way it's got to be?
Don't bury me
Faceless enemy
I'm so sorry
Is this the way it's gotta be?
Dear Agony

Leave me alone
God let me go
I'm blue and cold
Black sky will burn
Love pull me down
Hate lift me up
Just turn around
There's nothing left

Somewhere far beyond this world
I feel nothing anymore

Dear Agony
Just let go of me
Suffer slowly
Is this the way it's got to be?
Don't bury me
Faceless enemy
I'm so sorry
Is this the way it's gotta be?
Dear Agony

I feel nothing anymore"

All of it. Holy Expletive this song is so good.

Into the nothing. This is my wifes new favorite song. I had to write that, she made me.
This song is different than any other song I have ever heard from this band. I hear a very heavy tool influence on this track but then I may be crazy and writing this review for my own joy. Am I? Maybe.

"Into the nothing
Faded and weary
I won't leave let you fall behind
Live for the dying
Heaven hear me
I know we can make it out alive"

Benjamin Burnley is in his own right, a (expletive) genius. The way he writes lyrics, the way he blends melodies and drives his rhythmic guitar until it sobs pure gold. If I got to write a song with this man I think I would actually die happy. No lie. Did I mention that I write songs too? Heh. Makes ya respect this review a little more? maybe just a little? Not at all. Damn it.

Without you is the last track on the new CD but sure be far from forgotten. A song of devotion in the line - If you fall then I will too - every women out there wants to hear their significant other say something like this to them.

"Holding the hand that holds me down
I forgive you, forget you. The end."

We reach a point within ourselves where we can no longer cope within the situation. I am in no way saying Ben is unhappy in any of his situations in life. I am saying that his caliber of writing is and has always been the most moving and effective song writing I have experienced in my life.

All In all this CD is worth the 9.99$. I'd of paid more. If given this CD for free I would have paid the 9.99$ for a second because I believe in it and this band so thoroughly. I am not biased, I promise and as I review many many cds as a faceless writer I could not go faceless or nameless on this one. My heart, mind, body and soul were captured by this amazing writing and then further brought to frenzy by countless melodies and beats. As a band, Breaking Benjamin, is a force to reckon with. One that will tie you in knots easily and leave you to perish, alone.
Don't make us face the dark without you.

Buy this CD. Don't torrent it, don't get a copy from a friend, purchase one on your own. Illegal downloading is the number one enemy of all our favorite musicians. Available everywhere on line and at your local record stores. Don't walk, run, to get your own copy. You won't regret it.

15 out of 5 stars.