Review Summary: Skillet have crafted a rather poor industrial record that, while occasionally shining, isn’t really worth paying full price for.
What to say about Skillet? They formed in 1996 and had only played for a little over a month before before ForeFront Records picked them up. Later that year, they released their self-titled debut album, which was a decent post-grunge album, but nothing spectacular. In 2003, the band released Collide, a great, albeit generic, album. Ten years after their debut, the band released Comatose, which remains their best album with a magnificent blend of symphonic elements, piano, and hard-hitting guitar. So now you’re probably asking, “Wait, you skipped a lot! What happened in between?” The answer: a poor industrial phase that most will want to ignore.
Let’s start with the good. “Alien Youth” is an excellent track. It has a nice guitar riff, synthesizers that only are mildly annoying, and a soaring chorus, making this a track that utilizes the band’s good qualities well. “Kill Me, Heal Me” is another great track with some well placed screams, a heavy guitar riff, and a nice bridge.
While I’m the topic of the guitar riff, I must say that compared to Skillet’s previous work this album really shines. All of the riffs are good, and there is a guitar solo in Eating Me Away. The harder tracks sound very nice for the most part and are without a doubt the best parts of the album.
Unfortunately, it’s time to move onto the bad. While most of the time the instruments are solid, annoying synthesizers plague the songs nearly every step of the way. In fact, this problem is probably the worst thing about this album. Take “Vapor” for instance. The minute the song starts you are hit with a nice riff that is almost blocked out by the loud and brain-numbingly annoying synthesizers. They go away for a while in the verses, but come back in the chorus almost as bad.
Another fault with this album is the lyrics. In truth, they have moments where they are great (some of the ballads have very nice lyrics). However, when the lyrics aren’t even grammatically correct, there is a problem. Examples are “Earth Invasion” and “Rippin’ Me Off”.
In the last paragraph I mentioned the ballads. Let me clarify that they are decent tracks, and Korey's singing is wonderful. So what seems to be the problem here? there are way too many of them. How many are there?” The answer: five. On a twelve track CD. It really messes with the pacing of the album and makes it a chore to listen to in it's entirety.
In summary, what Skillet crafted here was a rather poor industrial record that, while occasionally shining, isn’t really worth paying full price for. Go listen to Nine Inch Nails, Rammstein, or Ministry for some better hard rock mixed with industrial.
