After getting his feet feet wet with the international hit "Satisfaction" and its followup "No Matter What You Do," Benny Benassi recently worked with his cousin Alle Benassi as the Benassi Bros and created another full-length album called Phobia in which all the tracks were arranged, performed, and mixed by the Benassis except for "Ride to be my girl," which was arranged, performed and mixed by Alle. The Italian euro house/electroclash duo started DJing in the late 80s in their hometown, before moving to Larry Pignagnoli's Off Limits production studio in the mid 90s, creating music for various acts. Benny's first big international hit was "I Feel So Fine," released as KMC with vocals by Dhany in 2001. After moving from euro house to electro, he had another successful hit single "Satisfaction" in 2003 and 2004. The song reached Number 2 in the UK singles chart after the Ministry of Sound company replaced the original video (an almost still picture of the band overlaid with graphics) with a video of models using power tools. Some of his other singles have charted high in the UK and have been played worldwide in clubs.
On the duo's Phobia release, we find the Benassi Bros maintaining the same downtempo sound that made their previous songs a hit, but we really don't hear anything new that would set this album apart from their previous releases. "Make Me Feel" is the first track on the album and the vocals are provided by Dhany who is a veteran in the house scene and featured heavily in Benassi's last album Pumphonia. Dhany's voice, like on most of the vocals on every track, are distorted to add to the songs effect with Benny's trademark synths. It seems to work with this song and provides an uplifting beginning. The next track on the list is "Light," which is the only track over 7 minutes long on this album. Benny and Alle add some snappy drum effects leading to an extra-long breakdown but never really build up to anything, which could have been hampered by the lack of bass in the song which causes the album to lose some of the momentum that it was building. "Rocket In The Sky" doesn't really inspire either even though Naan provides some great vocals and does a great job with a nice melody, but the song lacks any real energy and seems too light to really be playable at a club.
The next two tracks are no different from the previous two. Dhany vocals again for "Every Single Day" which we find again adding snappy drum effects with bittersweet lyrics but not establishing anything new. "Castaway" follows the same formula as the rest but has an edgier sound that vibrates a little louder, which comes as a welcomed relief. However, when you are about to give up hope for the CD, the Benassi Bros throw us a curveball and give us "Feel Alive," which is a breezy club song that definitely creates a vibe and energy that is infectious, making it totally different from the previous tracks. The sound is created by a guitar riff reminiscent of Eric Clapton's "Layla," with vocals again done by Naan. We don't see the Benassi trademark synths or distorted vocals, just the guitar looping and it works amazingly well. This is what I was looking for to follow their previous hits.
My optimistic mood was short-lived though when I listened to such songs like "Ride To Be My Girl" and "Blackbird" which provided male vocals and sounded eerily reminiscent of an edgier Eiffel 65. I enjoy Eiffel 65 for what it is but I don't think the comparison needs to be made in 2006.
While Phobia isn't really a bad musical effort, I wanted to see the Benassi Bros. explore new sounds and territory and not rehash the same sound they created before, which, unfortunately they did. There are still a few tracks on this album that are worth a listen and I am sure the rabid Benassi fans will still enjoy this album more than I did. I just can't seem to to distinguish this album from their previous work or from other artists like Eric Prydz and Gigi D'Agostino.
