Skillet
Awake

Release Date: 2009 | Tracklist

To help me describe Skillet’s sound and style to you as best as I possibly can, I would like you to imagine a hypothetical man in a hypothetical situation. We will call this hypothetical man “Bob.” Now this Bob fellow is a very firm believer in the Christian religion. With this I have absolutely no problem, and I don’t see why anyone should. Everyone is allowed to believe in whatever religion they want, after all, and who are you to tell them they are right or wrong? Bob understands, however, that people who try to shove their religion or beliefs down your throat are both annoying and, to be frank, just plain rude. Yet Bob here really would like to do just that-try and shove his Christian beliefs into as many throats as possible. He knows that pamphlets he posts through letter boxes will be trashed and visits to houses will be greeted with a door in the face. And he definitely doesn’t want to start any extreme protests-he wouldn’t want to end up like the Westborough Baptist Church, after all. So what should he do? Bob has always been a keen bass player as well, and suddenly he has a bright idea. Radio rock bands such as Nickelback or 3 Days Grace are extremely popular-they suck people in with catchy hooks and choruses and the listener inadvertently takes in everything the singer says. So if he could get a band together, write some decent hooks, and slap some Christian lyrics onto his songs, Bob could create both a good source of cash and a way of indirectly forcing his religion onto others.

Unfortunately, poor Bob’s plan fails miserably. He gains a few non-religious fans, but they aren’t “converted” by his religious lyrics. They simply choose to ignore them and pay attention only to the catchy choruses. The rest of the fan base is built up of Christians who not only like the music, but like the religious lyrics too. Seems like an inoffensive enough group, until they get a few big singles and part of Bob’s plan works-his religion is forced down the throats of those who believe differently via the radio, but they simply choose to spit it out and are left with nothing but a foul aftertaste. So what our hypothetical man has created is a hypothetical band which is your usual annoying radio-rock band, except with awkward religious lyrics this time around too.

Now just imagine this hypothetical man isn’t hypothetical, and his name is John Cooper. Not only that, but his hypothetical band isn’t hypothetical, and their name is Skillet. That’s roughly the best description of Skillet I can give you-a Christian Three Days Grace of sorts. And Christian Three Days Grace here’s newest album is nothing more-musically-than a below-average radio rock album from a below-average radio rock band. I will try to steer clear of the lyrical content from now on, I can’t really fault them for their religious lyrics-after all, what else can you expect from a band labeled as “Christian rock?” What I can point out, however, is their musical, vocal and songwriting talent (or lack of it), the factors which ultimately make or break a song.

Sadly, here, the aforementioned factors have an annoying tendency to not only break the songs, but continue to swing at them until they are completely and utterly smashed. The songwriting is where the album really fails-it’s not just the rehashed song structures that are boring, but nearly everything. The choruses are never climatic. The intros are never intriguing. The riffs are dull. The verses are dull. The bridges are dull. Everything sounds so similar, not just to the surrounding tracks on the album but to the bands that Skillet is often grouped with too. Substitute “Skillet” for Breaking Benjamin, Flyleaf, Seether, Three Days Grace, or anything similar, and the riffs would still feel right at home; the band just doesn’t have its own definitive sound, something even the lowest of lows (Hinder and the like) possess. The vocals are awful-John Cooper just flat out can’t sing, and that’s the long and short of it. The musicianship is so average it’s not even worth mentioning-not a single thing about it will catch your eye for the entire album. And that’s pretty much all there is to say about Skillet. They’re a band without an identity, a group whose only distinguishing characteristics are their Christian lyrics and the lead singer’s horrific voice, the latter of which isn’t really what you want your band to be known for. In the end, Awake is unremarkable and there really is no reason to spend money-or time-listening to it, much like the band itself. Just don't bother.

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2.7 average

Rank: #0 for 2009