Saturate / We Are Not Alone / Phobia

Some of rock's idealists would have listeners believe that every artist who comes along is obligated to be totally original. But realistically, any genre of music — be it rock, jazz, R&B, country, or Dominican merengue — is bound to have its leaders as well as its followers. Innovators who come up with something that's totally fresh — which could be anyone from Charlie Parker to the Sex Pistols to Astor Piazzolla to the outrageously eclectic Nellie McKay — deserve applause, but the more derivative artists shouldn't be condemned if they're skillful at what they do. Take Breaking Benjamin, for example. We Are Not Alone, the Pennsylvania post-grunge foursome's second full-length album, is every bit as derivative as their previous release, Saturate. Sure, Breaking Benjamin tends to be slightly heavier than Creed, Third Eye Blind, and other melodic post-grunge bands they're frequently compared to; they do, in fact, incorporate traces of alt-metal favorites Tool and Korn (minus the latter's hip-hop obsession). But at the end of the day, Breaking Benjamin is still a very derivative post-grunge band — and like Default and 3 Doors Down (two other frequent comparisons), they do such an enjoyably skillful job of being a derivative post-grunge band that one cannot help but give it up for them (unless he/she is among the musical ideologues who hate them on principle because they aren't trying to reinvent the alterna-rock wheel). We Are Not Alone (which contains three songs that were co-written with the Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan) won't win any awards for innovation, but in terms of quality and craftsmanship — as well as warmth and feeling — Breaking Benjamin generally delivers the goods. We Are Not Alone might give you a sense of "been there, done that," but it's still a respectable footnote in the incredibly crowded post-grunge field.