New Breaking Benjamin material is on the way — but the band hasn’t been in a rush. “We still have the attitude [that] you’re only as good as your next album,” guitarist Jasen Rauch tells Billboard’s Behind the Setlist podcast. “We’re still trying to dodge the sophomore slump going into record [No.] 7.”
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It’s been a long break since record No. 6. Breaking Benjamin’s last album of new material, Ember, came out in 2018; Aurora, an album with new versions of old material, came out in 2020. At this point in the band’s two-decade-plus career, Rauch says, they can take their time to get things right.
The recently released song “Awaken” is a case study in Breaking Benjamin’s deliberate pace. Rauch says the first demo for “Awaken,” released in October 2024, was recorded in either 2020 or 2021. The lyrics were changed “three or four times.” The song’s key changed. The band tried out different tempos. And the verses were written twice. “Sometimes you’ve got to put brakes on it and be like, ‘It’s just not ready. It’s not there,’” he explains.
As for a new full-length album, Rauch says a new Breaking Benjamin album will be released in 2025. After six albums for Hollywood Records, the next album will be released through BMG, just as the band’s recent single, “Awake,” came out through Benjamin Burnley Recording — Burnley is the band’s founder and singer — and was licensed to BMG.
Working with BMG has also given the band the freedom to not rush through writing and recording new material. And with three platinum and two gold albums since 2002, Breaking Benjamin is at a point in its career where it doesn’t need a label to invest the kind of resources required for a younger, developing band. “They’re already walking into an established product,” says Rauch. “They’re helping us get to the next step — whatever that is — with new music. And that’s been a cool, refreshing experience for us.”
Breaking Benjamin is co-headlinging the Awaken the Fallen Tour with Staind from April 26 to June 1. The band will also perform this summer at Rocklahoma in Prior, Okla., on Aug. 30, and Louder Than Life in Louisville, Ky., on Sept. 19.
Listen to the entire interview with Jason Rauch using the embedded Spotify player below, or go to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart, Amazon Music, Podbean or Everand.
