Skillet brings fans back to life with release of new album
Posted by The Skyliner on September 16th, 2009Candice Paschall
Staff Writer
After a three-year Comatose state, Skillet “awakens” with its new album, appropriately titled Awake. Released on Aug. 25, 2009, Awake is a follow up to the 2006 release Comatose, which effectively launched the members of the band into mass popularity inside the Christian music sector and out. Awake has been a highly-anticipated album and impressively debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard charts.
Skillet has been around since 1996, but the band didn’t gain widespread popularity until the release of 2006’s Comatose. Since then, the band has gained fans of all ages; ranging from kids in junior high to college students to middle -aged adults. They also gained a new drummer after Lori Peters left in 2007; she was replaced by gifted powerhouse Jen Ledger at the beginning of 2008. Ledger has proven to be an excellent addition to the band in both her drumming and vocal skills. Now, Skillet has made more changes in the right direction with the release of Awake.
Although Awake still has the gritty hard rock sound and signature throaty vocals of front-man John Cooper, the new album switches it up a bit.
“We never want to make the same record twice and that’s why Awake keeps it fresh and surprising. We’ve built off several of the epic elements, orchestration, piano parts and male/female vocal tradeoffs on several songs, but there’s also a balance of straight up rock stuff and tunes that are a little bit stripped down in comparison,” Cooper said on the band’s Myspace page.
Indeed, most of the tracks on the album do have a more raw sound than Comatose did.
The current singles from the 12-track album are the infectious “Hero” and “Monster,” which debuted earlier this year during the Comatose tour. These tracks are two of the hardest tracks on the album, in addition to “Awake and Alive,” “It’s Not Me It’s You,” and “Sometimes.”
“Awake and Alive” is probably the most intricate track, which has the addition of strings throughout the whole song and drummer Jen Ledger’s vocals.
“Don’t Wake Me” is a sweet power ballad of a love lost.
“One Day Too Late” reminds listeners to live meaningful lives and “Forgiven” seems to be a prayer asking for forgiveness.
Overall, Awake doesn’t disappoint. The album includes a good mix of hard-hitting, catchy rock numbers along with just the right amount of lyrical power ballads. To live up to the greatness of an album like Comatose would be hard for any band, but Skillet accomplished the feat with the release of Awake. Only time will tell what the future holds for this amazingly talented quartet, but fans can be assured that Skillet is heading in the right direction regardless.
Tags: Spring 2009, Vol. 109 - Issue 2