STREAMING: Wilkes-Barre’s Breaking Benjamin goes ‘Psycho’ on new single
With less than a month until their new album drops, multi-platinum rock band Breaking Benjamin has released another track from “Ember” that reveals where the title of the self-produced record comes from in its lyrics.
Debuting on Spotify and digital music retailers early this morning, “Psycho” isn’t quite as hard as the Wilkes-Barre band’s first “Ember” single, “Red Cold River,” or the songs that followed it up, “Feed the Wolf” and “Blood,” but it still packs a punch and fits perfectly with the melodic rock sound they’ve developed and maintained since their debut album, “Saturate,” in 2002.
“People have always really liked the heavier side of the band,” vocalist/guitarist Benjamin Burnley said in a press release. “I think that’s what they sort of gravitate towards. But we also make sure to explore our melodic and softer side too. On ‘Ember,’ we just tried to make it more extreme – the softer side on this album is really soft, and the heavy side is really heavy. We decided to give everybody what they want to the furthest degree.”
Stream “Psycho” below and all the other singles at the end of the article:
According to the band, “Ember” features their “most advanced and challenging music yet.”
“It’s difficult to play some of the songs,” Burnley noted. “They’re not something somebody could just pick up and play.”
While he has always been the group’s main songwriter through various lineup changes, Burnley said that this album has been his most collaborative effort yet.
“They’ve really contributed a lot more than anybody else has in the past,” he said of his current bandmates. “And they’re more like-minded, musically, than people I’ve ever played with, and so everything that they gave me fit into songs that I already had.
“I wrote the majority of our last five albums, and so I’m good with that – you know, that’s enough for me. Five albums pretty much by myself; I’m ready to pass it along. It’s more fun when you’re not doing everything by yourself.”
This is the first new music that Breaking Benjamin has released since 2015, so anticipation has been high, especially with each new single going over so well with their fans. They’ve been producing nothing but crowd-pleasing hits for years, delivering chart-topping singles and albums in an era where rock music is struggling for sales. Their last album, “Dark Before Dawn,” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 and had three No. 1 rock radio tracks – “Failure” “Angels Fall,” and “Never Again.” It was certified gold last year and may eventually go platinum, as 2009’s “Dear Agony” did as well as 2006’s “Phobia” and 2004’s “We Are Not Alone.” “Saturate” was also certified gold by the RIAA.
With pre-orders being taken now via iTunes, Apple Music, Amazon, and Google Play, “Ember” is due out Friday, April 13. The full tracklist is below:
Breaking Benjamin – “Ember” tracklist:
1. “Lyra”
2. “Feed the Wolf”
3. “Red Cold River”
4. “Tourniquet”
5. “Psycho”
6. “The Dark of You”
7. “Down”
8. “Torn in Two”
9. “Blood”
10. “Save Yourself”
11. “Close Your Eyes”
12. “Vega”
The group is taking their recently announced co-headlining summer tour with Las Vegas metal band Five Finger Death Punch back home to The Pavilion at Montage Mountain in Scranton on Friday, Aug. 17 at 7 p.m., featuring special guests Nothing More and Bad Wolves.
Tickets, which range from $34-$119, are on sale now through livenation.com and the Live Nation app. For the first time ever, The Pavilion at Montage Mountain will offer Ticket to Rock bundles to see three concerts this summer, including this show, Slayer with Lamb of God and Anthrax on Tuesday, July 31, and Godsmack and Shinedown on Friday, Aug. 31.
Lawn ticket bundles for all three shows are $59, while reserved seating bundles for the three shows will cost $79. These bundles are on sale now at livenation.com and will be available to purchase in limited quantities while supplies last.
Read NEPA Scene’s exclusive review of Breaking Benjamin’s surprise November show in Luzerne with photos and video here and another review of their last concert at Montage Mountain with Disturbed here.
