Skillet - Awake - Review

There’s always a level of expectation for any band’s newest LP, sometimes they aren’t very high. It usually depends mostly on how successful the previous album was with fans. So along comes a band that’s been releasing albums for years and suddenly let loose an amazing album that everyone loves. That’s all fine and good, but how are they expected to top that amazing album next time? There’s a staggering amount of pressure on that band. This time that band is Skillet, the archetype for all modern Christian rock. They cycled through a lot of genre changes until they released ‘Collide’ and seemed to settle on that style with another masterpiece, ‘Comatose’. Now they have to top it or at least do as good. Unfortunately their newest addition ‘Awake’ did not meet my expectations proceeding ‘Comatose’. The biggest and most irritating reason that fuels my opinion is their song choices.

The album opens raw and fast with ‘Hero’; immediately I got pumped up for a sick album. It sounds just like hard rock should. Catchy riffs and sing-along worthy vocals from lead vocalist/band master John Cooper. I was impressed by the beautiful backing vocals from Jen Ledger, the drummer and newest member of the group (appearing in the leave of former drummer Lori Peters). Personally, I enjoy her voice even more than the yet-worthy vocals of Korey Cooper in ‘Comatose’. The fun fest keeps going in the second track, ‘Monster’. This only gets my hopes up even more for an amazing album. The song is catchy and powerful, albeit the lyrics are a little bare. But other than the disturbing electronic growl close to the end, it continues the album nicely.

Following the good start is ‘Don’t Wake Me’, a slower track and a comfortable breather, not surprising for Skillet’s album style in the past. I wouldn’t be surprised if I heard one or two more. That alone wouldn’t bother me, but let’s just move on for now shall we? Close to the end of this song as well, John Cooper’s vocals seem to be failing him slightly as he attempts to sing higher notes. Honestly, surprising. Now as would be expected, another rocker, ‘Awake and Alive’, opens up with a short launch of strings, a fancy touch they pulled from their previous two albums. Still welcome in my opinion. They fill in the background noise through most of the song yet as well. Drummer Jen Ledger joins in to duet with John Cooper again for this one. Overall it isn’t as heavy as the beginning of the album, but still trademark Skillet sound, most enjoyable. However, don’t expect to be hearing anything like the opening tracks after this. ‘One Day Too Late’ stirs in another dose of heart-felt mellowness. Still not surprising.

Now, a slow song has just played, you expect something heavier to lift you back up into rock mode right? Wrong. The song that follows is not exactly my favourite. ‘It’s Not Me, It’s You’ is less than inspiring to say the least. It isn’t totally a softer song. By no means, it has some of the heavier riffs thrown in, but it’s terribly cliché and predictable. I am aware that Skillet is trying to sound mainstream, but this is exactly the kind of dreg that every awful mainstream rock band writes. What bothers me even more is the lyrics. Lines like “It’s not me, it’s you, always has been you. All the lies and stupid things you say and do. It’s you.” And “You were a poison. Flooding through my veins. Driving me insane, and now you’re gone away.” In all honesty it pains me to hear such a talented band write such amateur lyrics.

With that over, prepare to hear another soft song with subpar lyrics ‘Should’ve When You Could’ve’. If this song impresses anyone, I have lost all hope in humanity. This is where my hopes begin shattering. Another soft-side song plays through called ‘Believe’. This is even more disappointing because it is actually a pretty good song with good vocals, an epically soft guitar solo, and soothing strings, except I just heard a couple mellower songs, I don’t want to hear another one already. On that note, ‘Forgiven’ is another sappy emotional song, not impressing me even more. ‘Sometimes’ finally picks up the pace a little bit, finally! Not as heavy as ‘Hero’ or ‘Monster’ though, but the low guitars and occasional angry vocals at least get my blood pumping again, slightly. A very short guitar solo takes place near the end, but doesn’t last very long. I wish they could have impressed me with a whole solo at least once like the awesome one in ‘Falling Inside the Black’ from their last album.

Don’t get used to that blood flowing though, as the last two songs slow down the album even more than had been previously done. ‘Never Surrender’ starts very melancholy with a unique string set, but veers over from a slightly more upbeat chorus into very sluggish verses. Lastly ‘Lucy’, the song that ends the album is directed to mourning the loss of a loved one. It’s a beautiful song, I won’t deny that, but it only pushed me further down into the sad rock rut that the better half of the album forced me into. Then the album ends, and I totally forgot that it started with two good songs. Wow.

I know it’s hard to top an album released at the peak of a band’s musical ability, but they didn’t have to take such a steep step down from ‘Comatose’. They just sound sad. John Cooper was quoted saying that this album would have “a lot of today’s heavier rock influences”. I’m just wondering what bands he thinks are “heavier rock”. Savage Garden? Coldplay? Even the best songs on this album didn’t compare to older songs like ‘Rebirthing’ and ‘Falling Inside the Black’. Cooper said he wrote 40 songs in preparation for this album. And he picked these 12 as the best? I think I might cry if I heard his other material. I may sound negative, but I just don’t know how such a good band can disappoint me so much. I loved Skillet’s last two albums, but this one just made me sad. I’m giving Skillet’s ‘Awake’ 2.5 out of 5 napkins. I know they can do better.

Artist: Skillet
Album: Awake
Label: Ardent/Lava/Atlantic
Release: August 25, 2009
Length: 42:12
Rating: 2.5/5