Just for the record, Breaking Benjamin is my all-time favorite band. They've helped me get through so much in my life that they will always have a special place in my heart. Anyways, on to the blog :)
I've been anxiously waiting for the release of one of their new songs since they announced that they finished recording for the album. When Red Cold River was released, I knew that a music video was soon to follow. Now that we've had some time to watch it (repeatedly in my case), let's break it down.
Right off, you know what the story is about. With all the teasers that came out, you knew it was going to be something serious. The first thing you hear is, "She's gone". This is everyone's worst nightmare. You see it every day on the news that someone has gone missing and you pray and hope for the best. Like most cases, this one didn't end up with the girl coming home like we all want to. You see the press conferences held, you see the signs with the word, "Missing" on it, the whole nine yards. You even see glimpses of a body in red water. Wonder what that could mean?
At this point, you just brace yourself for the story to unfold because you know it's already going to be powerful. As the story unfolds, you see that the search party discovered the body and the man's friend is trying his best to comfort him, but if you notice, they keep the shot on him a little longer than most of the others. This was my first indication that something was involving him.
As the story goes on, a sort of witch, gypsy woman appears and helps the man find who is responsible for what happened by putting him in some sort of hypnotic/demonic trance. This is where you find out that the man's friend is involved and he is consumed with rage. This is also where they symbolism comes in to play. What the makeup and VFX crew did with the rest of the video is truly impressive.
The man, consumed with rage, delivers some justice to the friend and you can't help but think, "Good..", at least that's what I thought. When they end up back at the river, you can see the rage has consumed him to the point where he is completely unrecognizable. Then, you see the spirit of the daughter come back and the man realizes what he's done. At the end of the video, you see him try to reach out to the spirit, but he starts to decay, meaning that the rage has consumed him to the point of no return.
A very powerful video indeed. The band shots reflect the attitude of the entire video with Ben showing the emotions while singing the lyrics. Breaking Benjamin has never failed to deliver a video that capture the emotion of the song and that's one of the things I love about them. Breaking Benjamin's new album will be available on April 13th and is available for pre-order right now. If you haven't check it out, check it out here.
One more thing I'd like to add before I close this out, I said in the beginning of the blog that these guys are very important in my life for many reasons. I can't go into specifics on why they are, but I did get to meet these guys a few times and I was able to tell Ben in person, "Thank You". It was a very special moment for me and I was glad I could share it with my wife.
-Adam