Review Summary: Who would've thought that I could end up here. Nevertheless, I'm probably not here to stay.
For any of you that don't already know about my religious habits, you ought to know that I am probably the most convoluted Christian that has ever existed. I rely on my religious habits to shape my daily habits in terms of faith and belief, but often commit certain displeasures that don't necessarily go along with those of the Christian faith. My musical tastes involving black metal, death metal, and other such things, the language I often use, and things that I do, it all revolved around just how strange this experience can get for me.
I didn't find Skillet on my own. Rather, it was a couple of people from my church that gave me two Skillet CD's a little while after Christmas last year. At first, I was a little confused, not because I wondered why they gave them to me, but more like "why did I actually enjoy this"? When I put "Awake" into the player and started to listen to it, I never thought I would ever enjoy a mainstream Christian rock album quite like this. When it comes to lyrics, I don't generally listen to them, so most of the Christian influences on this album, I don't even recognize at first. I do however recognize the instrumentation that is actually better than most mainstream productions that I have witnessed.
Awake wasn't exactly what I intended to be the high-point of my musical take-on for the holidays, and I was a little broken at first when all I had to do was get through the first few tracks so that I could at least get rid of the guilt of not even trying them. Well, after getting past those few first tracks, I found it pretty difficult to stop. Plus, after a while, I did start listening to and relating to the lyrics, and with the substantial instruments and various distortions in said instruments started to combine, I found myself on a pretty fun ride through this obscure genre in my tastes. More often than not, the instruments were what really got me considering just how much better they really are. Songs like "Monster" and "Awake and Alive" really caught me off guard in the musical composure, but ultimately, it was the first track that really swept me off my feet. The way that "Hero" sets the tone for the rest of this album is amazing, and is a huge factor in why I enjoyed this album so much.
But it was not all to be angels and bright lights. After expanding on this discography, I have found more records to be better, and only recently discovered "Awake's" production issues. Of course the number one problem being that this is basically the exact same thing from Skillet the second time in a row. Although, I must say, this album has enough unique qualities that remove it from the humdrums of other mainstream rock bands even though it’s trapped in this repetitive realm of its own discography.
By no means has anything quite like this ever found its way into my ears for an extended period time, and by no means has anything like this ever avoided my "stay away" list. But I can easily say that this a revolutionary edition to my collection. Its unique qualities differing itself from other failed mainstream bands (*cough-Nickelback) or my preferable alternative Evanescence, this album has definitely managed to do justice. And the lyrics that I can actually relate to only make this album more preferable to me. This is without a doubt one of the strangest great things that I can say I enjoy.
