Breaking Benjamin
We're Not Alone Here

THE REVIEW

Together with 12 Stones, 3 Doors Down, Puddle Of Mudd, and Staind, post-grunge rock of the new millennium has another key player: Breaking Benjamin.
After making a name with "Saturate" and "Blow Me Away," a splendid soundtrack for the game Halo 2, in 2004 "We Are Not Alone Here" was released.
With a catchy title and cover that might suggest extraterrestrial references, it’s nothing like that, simple lyrics without particular references.
After the decent "Cold," "Simple Design" is of good quality, catchy with guitar riffs present but never overpowering. It’s a piece that borders on classic post/grunge to enter soft rock, a drop in power that leader Benjamin Burnley tries to cover with a respectable shout without too many pretensions.
After an initial listen, the album appears to be slightly more "pop" compared to the gritty and rough style of the previous work.
"Follow Me" is beautiful, elevating a somewhat disappointing start, simple, emotional, with a good drum base and a good sound performance by Benjamin Burnley.
"Firefly" is the album's highlight; like every leading track, the catchiness is high but lacks neither grit nor roughness, indeed Burnley is more "grunge" than ever, an emotional finale with a guitar solo and Burnley's "explicit lyrics," energy in the bass and especially in the drums in just over 3 minutes (one of the band’s characteristics is knowing how to encapsulate pieces in short timeframes).
"Breaking Fall" recalls the fantastic "Blow Me Away," but the base is distinctly lighter, the sound level returns to the levels of the very first tracks of the album, with little desire to warm up the vocal cords by the vocalist and slow melodies, sometimes a bit boring.
Even worse in "Forget It", irritating sound, lack of inspiration and bland chords.
The nu-grunge style returns but not the grit in "Sooner or Later," with a chorus that slides pleasantly but levels are just above average, as in the entire album.
The lyrics are interesting, discussing the complicated love/hate relationship of songwriter Burnley.
Excellent "Breakdown", livelier compared to the previous songs, in my opinion, it was strategically placed in the album’s latter part to make the listening more appealing since, in this CD, there aren’t any major sound upheavals.
"Away" brings us back to "Sooner Or Later", a bit more imagination was needed, it could have been avoided. Thankfully, the screams return at the end.
Finally, the classic intriguing rhythm returns in "Believe," grunge base and a strong performance by Burnley, who resumes dominating with his quality screams, this is the roughest piece of the album.
Peace descends at the end with "Rain", given the end of the album, it fits, acoustic guitar and a base that recalls Brit.
After a couple of listens, someone might be disappointed, indeed "We Are Not Alone Here" is a decently good album, but partly for the lack of ideas, partly because the band was probably forced to appeal to the charts, the base setup of most pieces becomes a bit predictable.
Good are "Simple Design" and "Breakdown", excellent the hit "Firefly", less satisfying are "Breaking Fall" and "Forget It".
Only for grunge rock lovers, after all, the aforementioned groups (Puddle Of Mudd, 12 Stones, 3 Doors Down, etc.) haven’t done better in recent years, maybe the term post grunge would be better eliminated, actually, I believe it never existed.
Let’s just call it 'Rock', so enjoy the decent rock of "We Are Not Alone Here".