Skillet -- Unleashed

8/10

Ah, they got me again. I heard the first couple of singles for Skillet's Unleashed, thought they sounded too poppy and modern, and completely disregarded it. There's a trend here: If I am anticipating a Skillet album (Comatose, Awake), I am greatly disappointed. If I dismiss it and only come back to it later (Hey, You, I Love Your Soul, Collide), I like it.
Unleashed takes the positive energy from the end of Skillet's previous album, Rise, and runs with it. This isn't an album full of doubt or fear. This is Skillet charging ahead, 4/4 time, 120 beats a minute, full of confidence, and ready to take on the world. Frontman, John Cooper, seems to be unleashing his full essence, as Unleashed is a happy, hyperactive, drooling dog, taking off full speed after a rabbit, and I mean that in the best way possible. Just look at the mud-caked, bellowing Cooper on the album cover. This is a rock album, leaning toward, but not quite heavy, full of electronic flourishes, and modern touches. The latter, like some of the group-chanting, and modern pop beats, I could do without.
However, those don't diminish Unleashed's eager earnestness. This is an album that aims to inspire, and I can't even pretend for one second that I don't like it, even when it follows the trends...Cooper has always done that, but filtered them through a certain Skillet lens of sound. The best version of this allows the band to stretch its legs, while not getting bogged down in either sappiness or downer butt-rock. Yeah, there's a little sappiness, but it's coming at 100 miles per hour, instead of through some syrupy ballad with some boring acoustic guitar strumming. The band even make some attempts at modern worship, in Unleashed's dancier/more wall-of-sound moments, but considering Skillet put out a worship album far before it was cool, and considering their attempts here are solid, I'll allow it. I'll allow all of it. Here's hoping Skillet stays off the chain.

Also, Unleashed features the best guitar-work of Skillet's career. Kudos to Korey Cooper and Seth Morrison. And kudos to the narrative created by their last five album titles.

2016 Atlantic
1. Feel Invincible 3:50
2. Back from the Dead 3:34
3. Stars 3:46
4. I Want to Live 3:29
5. Undefeated 3:36
6. Famous 3:18
7. Lions 3:25
8. Out of Hell 3:34
9. Burn It Down 3:16
10. Watching for Comets 3:29
11. Saviors of the World 3:46
12. The Resistance 3:52