Customer Reviews

Phobia

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Well, when Benassi first came out it was a fantastic sound, hard hitting, synthesized, pounding dance floor anthems, which I think the club scene was waiting for. If this was his goal, he hit it head on. While the idea is great, all the songs are and have the same sound and logistics. The songs are great to get the crowd pumping build their energy up, before the headliner takes stage, and great sounds and feeling for after the headliner, but to me NOT a headliner sound. I have most of his music in my collection of dance trax that I listen to in my car, but to sit and listen to the whole cd repetitively, not my fav thing to do. After a while the pitches can get to one's ear, which is why I highly recommend these trax as good mixer's for dj's who want to pump up the crowd and get them grooving. Should you buy this? Eh, you wont miss out on anything if you don't, if you have never listened to Benassi Bros, Benny Benassi, sure pick this up, you will either really hate it or really like it.

Encuentro bastante bien el LP, pero la única pega que le encuentro es que no llega al nivel de HYPNOTICA, pero aun así es un disco muy recomendable para los seguidores y no tan seguidores que quieran descubrir una nueva forma del TECHNO.

Ever since hearing "Satisfaction" I have been hooked onto the sound that Benny and Alle Benassi bring to the table. "Hypnotica" was one of their first major cds and it included that patent raw chainsaw sound that just keeps us coming back for more and keeps the dance floors jumpin.
They followed up with another great album in "Pumphonia", which introduced us to the wonderful vocals of both Sandy and Dhany. The beatiful Dhany showed off her beatiful voice in "Hit My Heart", while Sandy brought her powerful and stunning vocals in the hit "Illusion", which to this day is my favorite song. These 2 vocalists were a perfect addition to the Benassi sound, so it is no suprise that the Benassi Bros come at it again, this time with their new album "Phobia".
5 of the 12 songs on this album feature Dhany and 3 of the songs feature Sandy. Then there is the new additon to the Biz of Naan, and she is featured in 2 of the songs.
The hit single of this cd is "Every Single Day", a song which has a great beat mixed in with another strong performance from Dhany. This is a great one for the dance floor, and one of my favorite on the album.
Another one of my favorite songs on the album also features Dhany in "Make Me Feel". This is another song whose beat is sure to get you up and dancing.
Other strong performances by Dhany are in the songs "Run to Me" and "Somebody to Touch Me".
But don't count Sandy out! She leads in one of my favorite songs on the album, "CastAway", which has great lyrics along with a killer beat. "Light" and "Movin Up" are 2 other solid performances by Sandy on "Phobia".
Naan brings a new vocal sound to the Benassi Bros, and although she is not as great as Sandy or Dhany, she is still a great addition to the album, especailly in the song "Rocket in the Sky".
Overall, this is a wonderful album which integrates that addictive sound of Benny Benassi along with solid vocals. The previous cds we have seen from the Benassi Bros have not been so vocal-oriented, but they definetly hit a homerun with this album. A perfect mix of vocals and dance beats which can make for a sweaty night on the dance floor, or for on-to-go listening on your iPod.
Although this album does not contain a song that is one of my favorite Benassi songs, it is a very solid album overall, and a definite pickup if you love that Chainsaw sound the Benassi Bros always deliver.

(NOTE: Although the Amazon.com description states that this album includes the songs "Illusion" and "Turn Me Up", the Amazon version does not include these final 2 songs. There are 12 songs total on this album, not 14. I know this because I bought my cd from amazon.com, and I was suprised to see that there were only 12 songs on it, not the 14 like Amazon said. Therefore, if you buy this album, I also strongly suggest that you pick up the album "Pumphonia" by the Benassi Bros. as well, because "Pumphonia" includes some wonderful songs, including the song "Illusion" that was suppose to be on this album.)

While this is definitely a decent dance CD, with plenty of pumping tracks straight through to keep a dance floor sweaty all night, there just aren't any standouts on here. There are no catchy anthems to really excite me. Most of the tracks are good, none are great. The other sad part is that 5 out of the 12 tracks are Sfaction remixes, which put that buzz into the track from the Benassi. Bros. original house anthem, Satisfaction. It uses the same buzzing melody, just in slightly different arragements, and it's beginning to get very monotonous. Darude began making all his Sandstorm remixes of everything to drive us nuts, and now the Benassi Bros. are playing out their Satisfaction sound. It needs to stop right now. They have had some great tracks in the past with the digital classic Satisfaction, and the Dhany voiced Hit My Heart of last year, and under the alias KMC, they had Dhany's spectacular track I Feel So Fine. Now they have delved into standard dance floor tracks, with no real identity, and have turned all their other tracks into the repititous sounding rework of their best known track.

None of the vocals or lyrics ever rope you in, and while Sandy sounds better than she has on any other track, I still am not a fan. She sounds like she has marbles in her mouth at the start of the track Castaway. It's still a decent sounding track though, and it is probably the best on here along with Ride To Be My Girl, which ironically, is another digitally altered voiceover and makes for one of their best tracks again.

After hearing this CD several times, there isn't any one particular track that really screams play me again and again. It's decent stuff, and certainly better than a lot of crap albums where barely 3 songs are good and the rest are horrible. There really aren't any awful tracks on here. If you just want to dance, but to nothing special, buy this. If you want more, trust me, there's lots more out there.

The other thing is, there must be 3 versions of this CD, with the 3rd, normal version, not being offered on Amazon. My version was normally priced like most CD's, but does not have a video on it. The video enhanced version on Amazon is higher priced, and there is an even higher priced import listed. My version, and the standard one, does not seem to be for sale here???

I own all 3 albums made by Benny Benassi/Benassi Bros. and phobia seems to break the mold. Benny Benassi normally has an edgy acid house sound but in phobia took a new direction to sound more like trance with dirty synth leads. If you enjoy Benny Benassi or trance you will enjoy this album.

I found a majority of the songs are awesome, I especially love the deep bass and rhythms.

This is one great whole album! I highly recommend!!

This Cd is OK...
The best track by far is "Feel Alive". If the CD included more tunes such as "Feel Alive", I would of given it 5 stars very easy. I still rate it in the high 3 stars area. I'm sure many would rate this CD in the 4's.

I baught this cd looking for more of Hypnotica's badass dancefloor-crushing sound. Well, it seems that our beloved Benassi buddy decided that vocoded vocals weren't cool anymore. Bad idea, at least for those looking for Hypnotica II. I understand that he was trying to do evolve his sound, but unfortunately, he went in direction of a more stereotypical sound. I felt that Hypnotica was much more original, even though it was still a very "formulated" and repetitive album. Although this is a decent cd that will have you moving in no time, it is not a particularly memorable album--no single song really stands out. And quite frankly, the trancy female vocals are completely overdone, which gives the whole album a good helping of cheesy substance. All in all, for those who can't get enough of hypnotica, I suggest you look elsewhere--probably the single mixes. But for those who are actually into that "big beat trancy cheese" sound, this album will make you orgasmic.

-Disappointed hypnotist

This album was an iffy buy. When I saw it, I was excited! Hypnotica was such an amazing album, I imagined it hard to follow up.

I missed out on Pumphonia. Now that I know of its existance, I'm definitely going to check it out.

I was drop-dead blown away by this album. It seems Monsieur Benassi really figured his stuff out! Combining house and vocal trance into a deep, sexy rhythm over a hypnotic, soaring melody, topped with entrancing vocals. I really can't describe it any better than as the perfect Banana Split. So many different flavors, combinations, textures...but they all fit. So perfectly.

The standout tracks on this disc are as follows:

Make Me Feel - This track is a good opener. The vocals are nice and the music is beautiful. What strikes me so about this song though is that, for a line every once in a while, a singer harmonizes with the main vocalist and for some reason I just cannot get enough of that.

Rocket In The Sky - Beautiful song, hands down. The vocals don't quite make sense (are they singing about fireworks?) but they are nonetheless worth listening to.

Castaway - You just gotta hear it. This song is absolutely phenomenal.

Feel Alive - The rising sound of this song truly encapsulates the meaning behind the music. The lyrics are grand, the music is just...wow. This is possibly the best song on the disc.

Waitin' For You - The chorus and the music during the chorus makes my mind tingle.

Movin' Up - Not much different from Turn Me Up. Still an amazing song!

This disc is all around one of the best purchases I have made thus far in 2005, and for most of 2004. I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone!