Gone are the days of unpolished perfection from albums like
Collide. 15 years later, songs like
Savior and
Forsaken still pack a punch without the use of heavy editing or synthesizers. Nowadays, this is not the case. Everything must be polished to perfection with the help of an overuse of editing and a plethora of electronics.
Unleashed is no exception. After years of a constant decrease in quality, Skillet have reached a "rock bottom" in creativity. Yes, their previous release,
Rise, wasn't great, but this album takes another side of their music and manages to dig a deeper hole for themselves.
Unleashed acts as a somewhat bipolar album, not knowing whether to play the aggressive, gritty sound, or to remain mellow with the forced ballads.
Out of Hell and
The Resistance take advantage of the heavier side of Skillet, while songs like
Stars and
Lions follow through with the softer side of the album. While most of the heavier, aggresive songs remain fairly strong on their own, the ballads tend to fall flat on their faces. Although Skillet has been able to make some decent softer songs in the past, most of the songs on
Unleashed sound like straight rip-offs from Christian radio. In other words, not much originality or innovation in any way. Yes, I do find myself enjoying
Watching for Comets every now and then, but in general, the ballads fall short of glory. Now, all of this disappointment in the quiet songs doesn't mean the heavier songs are off the hook. There are plenty of flaws within those, too. Take
Back from the Dead for example. What could have been a great song is instead ruined by the cheesy "ba-ba-ba-back" found in the prechorus, accompanied by a generic guitar riff. The rock-anthem
Feel Invincible fails to capture any sort of attention, making it feel more like a filler than an opener. Although the tone of all the songs vary, there is one thing they all have in common. Synthesizers.
Yes, every song has synthesizers on this album, all composed by Korey Cooper. They have their ups and downs, and sometimes they are completely unnecessary.
Out of Hell shows a good use of these electronics, following along with the heavily distorted bass and guitars, enhancing the overall sound and atmosphere of the song. However, in a song like
Burn It Down, the electronics somewhat ruin the "rock" sound of the song, muffling the guitar's heavy riffing and covering the aggressiveness with computer cosmetics. As unwanted as they are, certain songs rely heavily on synths only.
Stars is full to the brim with synthesizers and electronics, reducing the need for any guitars or bass whatsoever. However they come, most of the electronics found within are generally unnecessary and don't add much to the music, not that there was much to begin with.
As harsh as it may seem, most of the songs on this album just aren't good.
Famous has an ultra-pop feel that doesn't fit into the sound of Skillet whatsoever, accompanied by straight-forward lyrics that sound like they were written in a matter of minutes.
Feel Invincible falls short of decency, resorting to generic synth verses and radio-rock guitar riffs, feeling more like an attempt to garner more attention rather than being genuine. The aforementioned songs
Lions and
Stars are full of Christian Contemporary cliches, including common chords and generic lyrics, lacking originality and predictable, which detract from the album as a whole. However, we can't forget about the few hidden gems on
Unleashed.
I could go on and on about the songs that are "lacking," but there are a few here that are actually good.
Out of Hell is without a doubt the best song on the album, composing one of the band's heaviest riffs in a long time mixed with an interestingly melodic chorus, all complemented by a pretty good, not too fancy, solo from Seth Morison. Despite the borderline contradictory chorus in terms of religious viewpoints,
Saviors of the World has some of the best vocal work on the album, showing John Cooper's ability to harmonize occasionally along with a constant driving drum beat from Jen Ledger backing up the rythym guitar. Although
The Resistance is a fairly average song, the ending is perfect in every way. It shows Skillet's ability to actually write an intriguing riff without the use of electronics whatsoever. It's not a complete throwback to the original sound of Skillet, but it gives us a taste of what we've been yearning for, leaving listeners with the want for more.
Unleashed has its moments but overall fails in total execution, resulting in a poor album. For me, this was ultimately disappointing. My hopes were high for an improvement upon
Rise, but the band continued in the wrong direction. Yes, I enjoyed a few songs,
Out of Hell being one of my favorites from them, but my feelings were unsatisfactory. Everything felt off and bland, without much originality or effort giving a sense of unfulfillment. We will probably never get another
Comatose or
Collide ever again, but it's worth hoping for, even though Skillet hasn't shown much potential lately.
