Saturate
They had been relegated to the late night hours of MTV2, which was (at the time) still playing more music videos than reality shows. Amidst the heavy crunchers such as Hatebreed and Killswitch Engage, an unlikely contender popped up with a sparkly video and an already slick sense of production, which would only become slicker in 2004. Heavy? Not in comparison to the other videos of that hour, but certainly louder than the The bands which were popular at the time. The band name was easy enough for me to remember, my name being within the contents of the band name. The video was "Polyamorous".
Breaking Benjamin's auspicious debut Saturate was too easy. It had several songs in addition to "Polyamorous" which would have easily been ready for a mainstream audience, but somehow it didn't find one until much later; their follow up We Are Not Alone was already in the works. Their label may have still been ironing out the behind the scenes details, assuming the songs would speak for themselves.
Yet for those of us (like me) who happened upon them in the wee hours on illegal cable, Saturate was an exceptional treat. Ben had already found a very playful sense of rhythm to mix with its already strong sense of combining dark guitar riffs and warm melodies. Aside from the first 10 seconds of the album and the chorus of "Sugarcoat", the screams and growls were definitely lower on the totem pole than the tunes. Although easily derided under the category of corporate rock, the style really was perfect for all rock listeners - hard hitting for the men, vocally arresting for the women, dark and moody for the Tool fan, rip-roaring for the Pearl Jam fan.
Lyrically they were a little unsure of themselves, save a few moments of tribute, with references galore to the Wizard of Oz in "Home" and references to being trapped in a small town in "Next to Nothing" and "Shallow Bay" (not as blatant as fellow Pennsylvanians Live used to play). However, the impeccable cohesive song structures more than make up for any lyrical shortcomings, and as far as that much is concerned, they were very lucky to have found their musical voice in the early stages of the game. Of course it helped that most of them had previously worked with the nu-metal outfit Lifer, and they already had a sense of what musically was going to work and what wouldn't work for them.
While it would eventually be "So Cold" that broke them into the mainstream later on, Saturate was already paving the path, and it should not be overlooked.
Breaking Benjamin's auspicious debut Saturate was too easy. It had several songs in addition to "Polyamorous" which would have easily been ready for a mainstream audience, but somehow it didn't find one until much later; their follow up We Are Not Alone was already in the works. Their label may have still been ironing out the behind the scenes details, assuming the songs would speak for themselves.
Yet for those of us (like me) who happened upon them in the wee hours on illegal cable, Saturate was an exceptional treat. Ben had already found a very playful sense of rhythm to mix with its already strong sense of combining dark guitar riffs and warm melodies. Aside from the first 10 seconds of the album and the chorus of "Sugarcoat", the screams and growls were definitely lower on the totem pole than the tunes. Although easily derided under the category of corporate rock, the style really was perfect for all rock listeners - hard hitting for the men, vocally arresting for the women, dark and moody for the Tool fan, rip-roaring for the Pearl Jam fan.
Lyrically they were a little unsure of themselves, save a few moments of tribute, with references galore to the Wizard of Oz in "Home" and references to being trapped in a small town in "Next to Nothing" and "Shallow Bay" (not as blatant as fellow Pennsylvanians Live used to play). However, the impeccable cohesive song structures more than make up for any lyrical shortcomings, and as far as that much is concerned, they were very lucky to have found their musical voice in the early stages of the game. Of course it helped that most of them had previously worked with the nu-metal outfit Lifer, and they already had a sense of what musically was going to work and what wouldn't work for them.
While it would eventually be "So Cold" that broke them into the mainstream later on, Saturate was already paving the path, and it should not be overlooked.