Breaking Benjamin shared an exciting update on their highly-anticipated forthcoming new album. The release of the upcoming project will mark a significant moment for fans, as it will be the band’s first new project in five years, following the release of their sixth studio album, Ember, in 2018.
Breaking Benjamin currently consists of guitarists Keith Wallen and Jasen Rauch as well as bassist Aaron Bruch, drummer Shaun Foist, and frontman Benjamin Burnley.
New Album Update
During a recent interview with FM99 WNOR, Breaking Benjamin guitarists Keith Wallen and Jasen Rauch shared insight on the progress of the group’s upcoming album.
While chatting with the Virginia-based radio station, Rauch revealed that the band is actively engaged in the recording process, and the creative energy is flowing as they continue to write new songs for the long-awaited project.
“We’re definitely recording. We’ve been writing for a while. Our tour schedule keeps things kind of intermittent. So it’s hard to get… We’ll go on a tour. We’re out for quite a while, come home. Everybody wants to go see their family, have some downtime, or whatever. And then it may only be a six-week turnaround, a 10-week turnaround, till we’ve gotta go back out and start prepping for the other thing,” Rauch explained.
In addition to being a part of Breaking Benjamin, Rauch detailed that he and Wallen are both pursuing other projects, with Wallen concurrently focusing on advancing his solo career. He went on to reveal that the band has some songs that are finished before declaring that the award-winning rock group are taking their time to focus on producing a quality project around their vigorous touring schedule.
“Have Songs That Are Finished”
“But as far as recording goes, it’s been so long since we’ve had an album out, we feel somewhat precious about it and are just making sure our quality control is there. So we are actually working, we are actually recording,” Rauch continued. “We have songs that are finished, and it’s just gonna be about all the business stuff — interfacing with the label and release schedule, what windows are open, that kind of thing, and then as far as us fitting in those recordings around the tour schedule.”
Breaking Benjamin is taking a distinct approach for their upcoming record. Instead of confining themselves to a recording studio for an extended period to create and record the new album, they are actively collaborating on the project from remote locations, according to Rauch.
Hard To Focus On Recording With Busy Touring Schedule
With the group and the individual band member’s busy schedules, Rauch admitted that it has been difficult to focus on the new album while also touring and such.
“It’s almost impossible. I can count maybe three bands, I think, that would be successful at writing [and] recording on the road, because it’s very difficult. You can have all the best intentions, but it’s hard just squeezing things in between press, any sort of VIP stuff that we have, soundchecks,” he admitted.
Keith Wallen doubled down on Rauch’s statement. “Even just finding a nice quiet place to you know, record some vocals or something,” he stated. “And not even just that, but just recording vocals in general, it’s, like, when you’re on tour, you’re using your vocals a lot and there’s a fatigue factor there. So you wanna be at your best when you’re recording; you don’t wanna be just completely cashed from singing three shows in a row.”
Rauch added, “It’s a recording, so it’ll live forever, so you want it to be the best, you want it to be perfect, but is that going to be at the expense of the quality of the show suffering as well? So, yeah, it’s a difficult line to walk there.”
Keith Wallen Previously Shared An Update On The Status Of The New Project
In July of 2023, Keith Wallen sat down with Radioactive MikeZ, host of the 96.7 KCAL-FM program Wired In The Empire, and confirmed that he and the rest of Breaking Benjamin were crossing their fingers that new music would be out within the next 12 months.
“One hundred percent, yeah. We’ve always been kind of writing and kind of chronicling some ideas over the past few years — through the pandemic, all that stuff, we’ve always been writing,” he explained at the time. “But, here, recently, it started to pick up a little bit. So I’m hoping — hoping — there’s gonna be some new music out sometime within the next year. That’s a nice, safe answer. I could say a month, I could say two months, but I’m gonna say a year, just because it’s been so long. I don’t wanna screw ourselves somehow; I don’t know.”
At the time, he also added to the hype, noting that the band has already completed several tracks from the new project and that many songs are ready to go.
“We’ve got some stuff in the works,” he revealed. “We’ve got a lot of music recorded. Ben (the band’s frontman) just posted yesterday — he just tracked some vocals for a song. So, yeah. We’re getting there. We move at our own pace here, much to the dismay of a lot of people, I’ve noticed, online. It’s awesome. It’s exciting. And man, I can’t wait to get it out there finally.”
While nothing has been announced as yet, fans can begin to get excited as they still have about five months till that 12-month time period expires, which will likely bring new music from Breaking Benjamin.
Experimenting With New Sounds On Forthcoming Album
Jason Rauch also teased that Breaking Benjamin took a variety of directions, experimenting with new sounds, as they continue to “keep the bar pretty high for ourselves as far as the standard is moving forward.”
“So, yeah, we’ve been in the studio,” he assured. “We did some in Nashville. We’ve done a lot of stuff remotely. Ben and I have dozens and dozens of voice memos going back, ‘Hey, try this. Try this.’ And we’ll record something and send it back and forth. But, yeah, we’re looking forward to it. And hopefully, we’ll have something out soon for everybody to hear.”
New Album Will Follow Release Of Ember
Their yet-to-be announced seventh studio album will follow the release of 2018’s Ember, which spawned two chart-topping hits on Active Rock Radio, including “Red Cold River” and “Torn In Two.” The album also marked Breaking Benjamin’s fourth Top 5 debut on Billboard’s Top 200 chart, debuting at the No. 3 spot.
Breaking Benjamin Tour
Additionally, the group recently returned to the road for their highly-anticipated electric tour on March 21, where the trek kicked off in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania at the Wind Creek Event Center. The tour, which wraps up on April 24 at Black Oak Mountain Amphitheater in Lampe, Missouri, featured headliner Breaking Benjamin with support from Daughtry (Chris Daughtry) and Catch Your Breath.
Following their current tour, the band will embark on a co-headlining trek alongside Staind with support from Daughtry and Lakeview. Produced by Live Nation, the 23-city tour kicks off on September 10 at The Pavilion at Star Lake in Burgettstown, PA, making stops in Raleigh, Las Vegas, and more before wrapping up in Austin at Germania Insurance Amphitheater on October 25.
