Skillet: Rise

Release Date: 25 June 2013

Genre: Christian, Hardrock

Length: 48:11

Label: Atlantic Records

Similar artists: Thousand Foot Krutch, Red, Fireflight, Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin

Rating: 4.5/5

“It’s time to change it all... unite and fight to make a better life… Tonight we rise,”

Where do I even begin with this album? There is so much that I wish I could say about it but to avoid an essay of epic proportions I will do my best to keep this bad boy short and sweet...

John Cooper brought to attention the fact that this album has been filtered through the eyes of a teenager, “coming into adulthood and he’s faced by the horrors that we see every day — floods, bombings, earthquakes school shootings... It’s about his path to salvation and wanting to be significant in some way.”  Throughout the album he is bombarded with feelings of horror, cynicism, and despair. Cooper also explained that “As we recorded them, we started to realize that there was something going on—that the album was really telling a story. Realizing that, I knew we needed to make it as powerful as we could.”

Rise opens up with the title track, which is a call to arms declaring that it is, “time to change it all... unite and fight to make a better life… Tonight we rise”. This track is not only powerful but meaningful as well, this song is the start of the story woven into the tracks within Rise. In this song we are called to "Rise in Revolution" against the things of the world.

“Good To Be Alive” incorporates instruments not usually associated with rock, or Skillet for that matter, such as the accordion, mandolin, dulcimer and bells. It’s a positive song in which the protagonist realizes there is a lot in his life that he has to be thankful for. The story continues with “Not Gonna Die” which refers to the fact that the protagonist of this story is not going to die, but rather have an eternal life in Heaven. “Madness In Me” is reminiscent of songs like “Monster” and “Sometimes”. In it, the protagonist finds that he has problems within himself saying that he, "Can't change the past, but I can fight to save today".

John Cooper explains that "The story's apex is the song "Salvation," where the protagonist realizes that he desperately needs to be saved." And in realizing this, he asks Jesus for forgiveness. “What I Believe” The last song on the album and it is about the protagonist taking a stand and boldly proclaiming his faith.

It’s hard for me to say whether or not Rise will do better commercially than Awake, but in my humble opinion it is the better album. The songwriting has more depth, there’s added diversity, the concept is very thought-provoking and inspiring without being too “preachy” which mean that this album will appeal to anybody and everybody. Fans of Skillet will find that there is a lot to like in this album, and new fans of the band will be attracted as well.

With so much right with this album I truly believe that it was well worth the wait for this album, and it almost certainly promises to set the bar high in the rock and roll genre for years to come.

This week, Song of The Week goes to: “Not Gonna Die”

Stay fancy Miss Nancy

D