Metal Anarchy

Breaking Benjamin frontman, Benjamin Burnley has a lot to celebrate, considering his new album, Dark Before Dawn, hit number one on the Billboard chart with 141,000 copies sold in the first week, but that does not mean things are perfect. Burnley is still suffering with a mysterious illness, and recently discussed his sickness with Rolling Stone.

Here’s an excerpt from the interview:

“When did you first become ill?

Back in 2007, and I can only speculate that it was caused by excessive drinking. I used to be an alcoholic and I stopped drinking in 2007 because I got sick. I stayed up drinking for three days straight. When I woke up I was weak, seeing spots and dizzy and it never went away. I thought, “Wow, I really did a number on myself. I’m gonna chill for a few days and not drink and I’ll get better.” But that didn’t happen. It got way worse.

How have doctors treated your illness?

The medical system tries to cure your symptoms, but not your illness. That’s how the drug companies make so much money. And if you’re a person whose symptoms get worse with every single type of medicine you take, guess what? You’re shit out of luck. I’ve tried anti-depressants and they’ve made my symptoms 1,000 times worse. Now, I have a symptom that is beyond torturous. It feels like I’m being poisoned, electrocuted and spun around all at the same time. I’m in constant agony and torture and I also have severe joint and muscle pain.

Does that make it hard to play guitar and sing?

No, the muscle and joint pain is so horrendous it distracts me from my other symptoms, so it’s relieving in a sick way. Basically, my only relief is intense pain. It’s a horrible, horrible condition and if I didn’t have the support of all the fans, and if I didn’t have my incredible wife and son it definitely wouldn’t be worth living through.”

Head to rollingstone.com to read more.