Skillet -- Awake

4/10

Eesh. I had hoped Skillet would return in 2009 with something more authentic after Comatose. Instead, Awake, which is great only in the fact that its name is a natural progression from that of its predecessor, puts Skillet firmly into butt-rock central.
The first two tracks are good enough, "Hero" and "Monster" more streamlined versions of the theatrical hard rock that marked Comatose's better moments. Then, boom, it's the album's first syrupy acoustic ballad, "Don't Wake Me." Fair enough, the next song is called "Awake and Alive," so maybe there's some really cool thematic resonance here...and woah! "Awake and Alive" is a revelation, the song that pushed Skillet from chart-topper to radio ubiquity. It is admittedly a great song, taking advantage of young new drummer, Jen Ledger's fresh-sounding backup vocals. Heck, she even takes lead for a few moments and carries the song just as well as frontman, John Cooper. It's a brilliant dueling vocal performance, and it got a deserved insane amount of radio playtime with it's gigantic, hard-rocking, "I'm awake/I'm alive/now I know what I believe inside" chorus. It's also pretty much the last decent song on the album, and there are eight more songs.
"One Day Late." A lousy ballad.
"It's Not Me, It's You." Three Days Grace wants their song back.
"Should've When You Could've" What even is this? It's like a worse version of Avril Lavigne pretending she is pop punk. So cheesy.
"Believe" A pretty earnest rock ballad. The lyrics are way too much, though, and come off as emotionally manipulative.
"Forgiven" I feel like, with less meticulously studio'd polish, this song could have a real impact. Instead, it just comes off as a cheesy, string-filled radio ballad.
"Sometimes" Woah, the Three Days Grace vibe is back, but now it sounds like it got resurrected from the Pet Cemetary.
"Never Surrender" Again, it's in the Three Days Grace vibe, but it's kind of an uplifting song.
"Lucy" Some kind of ballad or something. I think I checked out a couple of minutes in.
This fact is a clear indication of what you're getting into with Awake: there are no songs over the four-minute mark. They're all between 2:57-3:55. That's a range of 58 seconds. If that doesn't prove Awake's intentions, I don't know what will. This is radio-ready garbage. Bring back the real Skillet.
Man, I think 2009 is still the most disappointing year in music for me. The hipsters were heavy pushing garbage like Animal Collective and The Dirty Projectors, and all my old favorites were putting out stuff I hated. Jeez, when I look at my best of list from 2009, it looks like a train wreck. There's some legitimately good stuff on there, but there's also some absolute crap. Geez, I'd even give my own list from that year a 7/10. It features maybe three albums that I think are great. I don't feel that way about any other list I've made on The Nicsperiment in the last 14 years.
All that said, I don't even think this Skillet album is mediocre. Awake is bad.


2009 Lava
1. Hero 3:07
2. Monster 2:57
3. Don't Wake Me 3:55
4. Awake and Alive 3:32
5. One Day Too Late 3:40
6. It's Not Me, It's You 3:25
7. Should've When You Could've 3:31
8. Believe 3:50
9. Forgiven 3:39
10. Sometimes 3:28
11. Never Surrender 3:30
12. Lucy 3:40