Phobia was released on August 8, 2006, and quickly sold out at major retail chains such as Best Buy and Target. The album sold 131,000 copies in its first week, which made it the fastest selling and highest charting Breaking Benjamin album (until 2015's Dark Before Dawn), hitting number two on the US Billboard 200. This is the first studio album Chad Szeliga recorded with the band. The intro track features the sound effects of an airport, namely a flight attendant announcing standard safety procedures and the sound of an airplane making its ascent, alluding to Benjamin Burnley's fear of flying, hence the inspiration for the album name, Phobia.[2]
The album re-entered the US Billboard 200 at number 38 on May 5, 2007, with its reissue. On May 21, 2009, the album was certified platinum by the RIAA[3] and on October 15, 2021, the album was certified silver by the BPI,[4] making it their most successful album in terms of sales internationally.
Phobia received generally mixed reviews. Corey Apar of AllMusic called the album "nothing if not consistent" with their past material, concluding "Phobia will not win over any skeptics still holding out on the band, but for those already happily settled in the Benjamin camp, it makes for another satisfying listen."[1] Simon K. of Sputnik Music was more critical, stating "There are a couple of songs on here that are easily forgettable and lack any real substance from the vocal side of things, and because the music behind it is keeping vocals in mind, the song suffers because of it," though also felt that "[...] it’s still a very enjoyable album."[8]Entertainment Weekly criticized the disc's dark tone, saying almost every song was "[...] a cry in the darkness of a cruel world," but praised its "[...] expansive choruses and epic riffs".[5]
This DVD was released in April 2007 as part of the Phobia Collectors Edition CD and DVD package; it features the band's entire February 11, 2007 concert at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
"The Diary of Jane" was the fastest added song ever in Hollywood Records' history, and was featured in the video game NASCAR 07.
"You" was played live for the first time during an all acoustic set at Concert for a Cause IV in April 2006, while the band was still in the recording process. In an interview, Burnley revealed that he had mistakenly forgotten the second verse of the song during the set.
"Topless" was written and performed before the band had even released their debut album Saturate, in 1998 when the band first formed and was originally called "Top of the World".
"The Diary of Jane", and "Breath" were covered by the classical cover quartet tribute band Vitamin String Quartet, and the covers of those songs appear on the albums Strung Out – the String Quartet Tribute and Hard Rock Hits, Vol. 4.
According to lead singer Benjamin Burnley on the Phobia DVD, the track "Evil Angel" was one of the first songs he wrote for Phobia.
[1]
[6]
[7]
