Review Summary: This time, they really are awake. Not fully unleashed to true potential, no, but at least on their way.
I honestly believe that Skillet could’ve broken up after
Rise and not even die-hard fans would mourn too hard. This was an album that was somehow worse than even
Awake and just sounded tired, broken, and riddled with bland lyrics, bad vocals, an overly flashy sheen, and a shell of what was once a decent modern rock band. The departure of long time guitarist/riffsmith Benjamin Kasica clearly hurt the group and one can’t help but wonder if he held the slightly decent parts of
Awake on his shoulders. Speaking of band members, Jen Ledger had two albums to find her place in the group, yet still primarily stuck out like a sore thumb among her bandmates. Not to mention the fact that Skillet had four years to create the worst album of their career. I can think of another modern rock band that not only had a major lineup overhaul but also four years to make a comeback and said comeback was at least decent. And when I heard about the release of
Unleashed in mid-2016, I honestly just didn’t care. But enough people around me told me it was a good record, it got mixed reviews instead of predominantly bad ones, I decided to review Skillet’s main discography, here we are. Did Skillet finally learn the lesson they so badly needed to study since the release of
Comatose?
I’m not sure if John finally developed some sort of training technique or just started treating his voice better, but the dude literally sounds reinvigorated. This is a far cry from the unfortunate rasp on the previous record, and it does translate live. He’s not quite back to
Collide, no, but he’s at least to
Comatose standards and I’m perfectly happy with that. He still can’t contribute anything noteworthy on the bass guitar but that’s never been his strong suite in the first place. As I’ve stated in reviews past, rhythm guitarwork hasn’t quite been a strong suite for the band since
Collide. It was meh on
Comatose, showed up a little more on
Awake, and decent on Rise. Here, it plays just as big of a role as it did on
Collide which is a major advantage. Seth’s adrenaline-fueled detuned chord/single-note bashing adds some much needed gumption that has been largely missing, and for the most part, the solos aren’t too showy and are used tastefully. Throughout the record, the synths from Korey are hit and miss: sometimes they do work, and sometimes they just really ruin the song. The strings are here, though they don’t show up quite as much, and when they do appear, they don’t really add or detract from the music. Jen Ledger’s drumwork is still just meh, but she’s not overly auto-tuned or pitch-corrected on vocals and actually has a great voice when she’s allowed to truly shine.
Let me explain something before getting to the standouts: Skillet do not pave new ground with these tracks. They slightly plagiarize themselves and other bands, but it works to a degree. Take “Back From The Dead”, for example. It’s your typical pump-up radio rock track, but the riffs and vocals hit hard, the tempo is fast and furious, and the chorus shines. This actually sounds like a decent
Collide b-side. Ever wondered what would happen if Sonic Syndicate and Five Finger Death Punch had a kid? Or if In Flames’ approach to alternative metal became slightly more melodic? Then there’s “Out of Hell”. The Drop B riff sounds eerily similar to FFDP’s “Under and Over”, the synths and soaring vocals in the chorus sound like the ultimate “guilty pleasure” track “Denied” from Sonic Syndicate, and there are plenty of shred moments. However, one cannot deny the pure fun of the track and Skillet don’t really do a bad job on it. “Burn It Down” is a synth/guitar riff laden pump-up track that features a jump-up-and-down tempo, a call-and-answer song structure, and fiercely catchy lyrics. Ever wondered what would happen if the song-writing approach used on
Comatose got a bit darker and heavier? Then you have “I Want To Live”, the only song of the record to fully showcase the blend of orchestral strings and heavy guitar work. The lyrics are also quite urgent and work well, and this is one of the moments where Jen sounds great and blends very well with John. “The Resistance” features more great vocal work from Jen, a caffeine-inject chorus, a spacey fun synth line, heavy riffing, and probably the heaviest scream John has unleashed and even rivals that of
Collide’s “Forsaken” or “Open Wounds”. This track closes the album quite well.
However, there are still some cringey moments here. First, let’s speak of the plagiarism (I use the term loosely in order to not be sued by the band) that the band is so fond of. Back in 2013, RED released their weakest album,
Release The Panic. This was a record in which the band attempted to blend poppier elements into their take on alternative metal. And it just felt a little off (I’m a fanboy so I still proudly have the album at a 4.5 in all honesty). One of the tracks I really enjoyed off the album is called “Die For You”, which combines aggressive vocals and a driving drop A riff with programmed drums and an overall bouncy, dancy feel. Skillet tried to rip this track off a couple times here and it really didn’t work (see “Famous” especially). Also, the ballads here are all either aping Hillsong United or the Of Monsters and Men/Imagine Dragons style. Naturally, a good portion of the album ends up feeling like filler as well.
Lyrically, I feel like this is the most brutally honest the band has been since “The Last Night”. “Out of Hell” is an in-your-face look at a person determined to claw out of the demons that surround him, “The Resistance” explicitly kicks Satan straight in the teeth, you get the picture. No, it isn’t quite to the cleverness of the aforementioned RED or Breaking Benjamin, but it is still pretty striking. At times, because a fair bit of this record absolutely falls flat on its face lyrically. Let’s go back to the “Die For You” example. Yes, there were some poppier elements at play in the track, but the main element that made it work so well was the uncompromising lyrics about sacrificial love, specifically the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. RED did the best they could to throw you in His position, and even if you aren’t a Christian, sacrificial love is still a big emotional play. Here, a track like “Famous” or “Feel Invincible” just sounds like Top 40 sugar-coated gloss and loses all emotional value or impact. Speaking of Christianity, I believe that there is a way to subtly praise Jesus and effectively do it as well. Skillet just don’t have that talent, making a mediocre track like “Stars” come off even worse with its cheesy, predictable, over-used lyrics of “if you can hold the stars in place you can hold my heart”. This doesn’t evoke any positive emotion, just a cringe.
To be honest, this isn’t that great of an album as a whole. It’s largely predictable alt-metal that won’t convert any metal purist (which thankfully I am not). However, some of it is largely predictable alt-metal done right. The standouts contain plenty of heart, and standing on their own would make a great EP. While
Unleashed doesn’t come close to surpassing contemporaries, it inspires a hope in Skillet that hasn’t been there for quite some time.
