This is Wednesday's Post.

Yo Peeps. I didn't post on Wednesday because I'm a bad blogger, so pretend this is Wednesday's post. Aight?

This is a paper I wrote for my songwriting class. I flex my music critic muscles. It got me "A GOOD JOB." Now I'm not sure if i just did a good job, or if I got an "A" because I did a "GOOD JOB." The A was above the GOOD JOB, so I'm thinking the latter.

The Top of the Modern Rock Charts
David Draiman and Benjamin Burley
Anyone who's listened to much hard rock released in the last five to ten years will have heard of Breaking Benjamin and Disturbed. These two bands have sold millions of records, sold out stadiums, and had numerous singles reach the number one spot on Billboard's Modern Rock chart. These bands do most of their songwriting themselves, with frontmen David Draiman and Benjamin Burley writing the majority of the songs for Disturbed and Breaking Benjamin, respectively. The bands play a similar style of rock and roll, putting emphasis on loud guitars, thumping basslines, and hammering drums. Burley and Draiman each make use of a wide variety of vocal techniques, from falsetto crooning to gritty rock snarls to full blown metal style screaming, and each singer often writes dark and haunting lyrics. Both bands have sizeable bodies of work, each having released four studio albums, so here I'll be comparing and contrasting Breaking Benjamin's Breath, a single which stayed at the #1 spot of Billboards Mainstream Rock Tracks for over a month in 2007, and Disturbed's Inside the Fire which reached the top of the same chart in early 2008.

Breath is a dark and heavy hard rock piece that features a prominent bassline, crunchy distorted guitars, a kick drum heavy beat, strong vocal melody and harmony, and emotional and relatable lyrics. Burley on rhythm guitar and bassist Mark Klepaski provide a strong harmonic foundation on which guitarist Aaron Fink plays strong melodies. Drummer Chad Szeliga pummels the listener's ears, driving home every word that Burley sings. The song features masterful use of dynamics: during parts of the song Fink's guitar without distortion is the only instrument, before the entire band rejoins him in a sudden crushing wall of sound. During the verses Burley croons a haunting melody over an intricate bassline while Fink plays arpeggios over a stripped down kick and snare drumbeat. Barely audible whispers in the background add to the creepy ethereal quality of the verses. The prechorus shifts back into high gear with full blown overdriven power chords and crashing cymbals underneath Burley's powerful yells enhanced by Klepaski and Fink's harmonies, quickly drops back to a single guitar and Burley's voice, and just as quickly kicks back into overdrive when the chorus comes in. The production on this song is masterfully handled: the intricate layering of multiple vocal parts on top of lush instrumentation couple with the continual changes from soft to loud and back again add to the emotion and intensity of the piece.

Lyrically the song is very relatable. The words are ambiguous enough that virtually any listener could apply them to their own situation. Anyone who's experienced loss or rejection can relate to Burley's painful howling of “You take the breath right out of me / you left a hole where my heart should be.” The listener may not know exactly what Benjamin is screaming about, but it definitely tugs on their heartstrings as they remember that girl they fell in love with who later shattered their heart into a million pieces. The stream of consciousness verses don't make a whole lot of sense, but the beautiful melody coupled with the skilled instrumentation make the verses very singable. The lines “This will be all over soon, / Pour the salt into the open wound / Is it over yet? / Let me in,” may not make perfect sense, but it paints a vivid picture of someone in agony, and the vocals are so well done that listeners can't help but be moved as they sing along. Between the stirring vocals, the intricately orchestrated dance performed by the guitars and bass, and the heart thumping drum beats it's small wonder that this song was so successful.

Inside the Fire dominated the charts last year, and was a big reason why Indestructible became Disturbed's third straight album to debut at #1. Inside the Fire is a fast paced rock and roll number, that features excellent guitar playing, heavy drums and bass, and powerful singing. While bassist John Moyer locks in perfectly with drummer Mike Wengren's powerful driving beats, and Dan Donegan displays impressive mastery of the fretboard in his guitar solo, the real strength of this song comes from David Draiman's incredible melodies and downright scary lyrics. Draiman has always had a knack for coming up with soaring melodies that mesh perfectly with the band's pummelling hard rock sound. As my friend Josh, the drummer in a band I was in during high school, once put it, “dude, Draiman's melodies are just... huge.” The staccato vocals in the verses complement the machine gun guitar riff beautifully. Draiman's voice starts to soar in the chorus, as he entreats the listener to “give your soul to me for eternity.” The lyrics of this song can be described as anything from haunting to straight up scary as hell. Even before really listening to the words I caught lines like “she was taken, and then forsaken,” and “fire, all you desire,” which conjure up creepy images which wouldn't seem out of place in the latest horror movie. If you really listen to the lyrics it becomes apparent that something very creepy is going on. Draiman is singing from the point of view of the devil, or someone like him, and trying to convince the listener to kill themselves to rejoin a lost loved one. The stark descriptions of “Devon,” the dead lover, during the verses, prepare the listener to pay heed to the devil's ever more insistent entreaties that they should join Devon “inside the fire” during the chorus. While not everyone may have contemplated suicide to be reunited with a dead lover, most can appreciate the story spun by Draiman, and the gravely growl he uses to spit forth his frightening lyrics is very appealing to hard rock listeners. The gritty unapologetic story is told through a gritty unapologetic medium, a formula Disturbed used before with singles like Down With the Sickness and Stricken.

Even if the listener has no idea what the song is about, as I didn't until I read the lyrics, it's still very powerful musically. A synthesized keyboard intro segues into Disturbed's easily recognizeable brand of hard rock, and the song opens and closes with Draiman laughing creepily in the background. The pummeling tempo never lets up, keeps the energy level high, and the way the vocals and instruments lock together provides a great listening experience.

Each of these songs brings something unique to the table, but they've got lots of similarities. Each song's subject matter is fairly dark and moody, which is reflected in the dark feel of the instrumentation. Burley shows his flair for soaring melodies, introspective lyrics and lush arrangements, while Draiman lets his powerful voice and masterful melodic abilities push his lyrics to center stage. Breaking Benjamin's sound is a little fuller and richer, due to an extra guitar and the fact that the guitars are tuned several steps lower than normal. Disturbed pummels the listener more, with faster tempos and more aggressive intrumentation. Draiman's voice is much grittier and angrier sounding than Burley's; Burley sounds like a velvety voiced smooth jazz singer next to Draiman's inhuman growl. Burley has two more voices (Fink and Klepasky) singing harmony behind him however, so Breaking Benjamin's rich vocal arrangements provide as full a sound as Draiman's raw vocal power. Both singers make use of screaming, and quick shifts in dynamics are prominent parts of each song. Lyrically the songs are very different. Draiman's song vividly tells a story, and if one listen's carefully to the lyrics it's fairly obvious what's going on. Burley's stream of consciousness style is harder to follow, but can be applied to many situations and is extremely relatable. Both singers are excellent at producing hooky melodies that stick in the listener's head long after the final notes of the song have faded.

Burley and Draiman have each discovered the way to craft a popular hard rock song. Stark and haunting lyrics sung over thick crunchy rock and roll instrumentation, coupled with tremendous and easy to remember melodies are what allows these songs to stand out in the sea of generic hard rock. Each man has crafted a song that is very unique and personal but is also relatable enough to be successful in the mainstream rock and roll world. Each singer is also lucky enough to have a group of extremely talented musicians behind him on the stage. Although each singer has a different band to work with and each takes a different approach to crafting a heavy rock song, both Draiman and Burley are masters of the modern hard rock scene.

I'm aware that most of y'all aren't really very involved in the modern hard rock scene, but here ya are anyway.