Last year's Untitled yielded two #1 songs ("All Over Me" and "How Long"), and the Benjamin Gate's new album, Contact, is not veering far from the path which brought them that success. Their lyrics are straightforward P&W in nature, and musically Contact is upbeat yet repetitive, with synthetic sounding guitars and drumming that sounds programmed. The downfall of the album is that there is very little distinction between tracks. Even though "Tonight," "This is Not," and "Overkill" are catchy and well-written, they don't push any boundaries. The Benjamin Gate has a lot of talent, but they seem restricted. The high point of the album is the powerful vocal performance of Adrienne Liesching, even if her voice was overproduced (to see this band live is to see them at their best). The real question for the Gate is if they want to continue down their path toward CCM glory with another album like Untitled and Contact, or break out and try something new.
Editors' ratings - Doug 2.5/5, Jason 2.5/5
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