Awake

Skillet | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 25, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 2009
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Atlantic
• ASIN: B002FZL94Y
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (143 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,473 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #5 in Music > Christian > Rock & Alternative
  • #13 in Music > Alternative Rock > American Alternative > Post Grunge
  • #63 in Music > Christian > Pop & Contemporary

Editorial Reviews

Skillet's eighth studio album, Awake, recorded with Grammy-nominated producer Howard Benson, is set for an August 25, 2009 release. The album will contain 12 tracks, including 'Hero' and 'Monster' which were added to their live set during their Comatose Tour 2009.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The alarm goes off with more stimulating rock., August 26, 2009

By 

C. W. Fitch (Wichita Falls, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Awake (Deluxe) (Audio CD)

Skillet's first studio offering since 2006's "Comatose" comes firing out of the box with both barrels, with more of the crunchy, head pumping arena-rock sound and power ballad goodness fans have come to love over the last several years from the Memphis crew.

There are several similarities between this album and "Comatose"; most obvious is the sound. Stylistically "Awake" seems to be a continuation of "Comatose"; more than likely it's what the guys were looking for, and they got it right once again. From the first few songs, it's evident that John Cooper and co. are going by the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" philosophy. The only real differences are the near-absence of the prevalent violins from most of the "Comatose" playlist (apparently to make room for more guitars) and the trading of female vocal duties from John's wife Korey to drummer Jen Ledger. The themes surrounding the songs will take you back to 2006 as well, as once again the crew wail splendidly about forgiveness (obviously found in "Forgiven"), overcoming adversity ("Never Surrender"), renewal of faith, and living each moment as if there were no tomorrow ("One Day Too Late", which could pass for the next chapter of "The Older I Get"). Skillet also spend a couple of tender moments discussing relationships; "Don't Wake Me" waxes poetic about a guy trying to hold on to the relationship he apparently messed up, while "Lucy" pays a somber visit to the grave of a lost-too-soon love. The tongue-in-cheek "Should've When You Could've" breaks up the mood a little, though, with a dismissing anthem to cheating ex-girls everywhere.
While it seems the central theme of this album is renewal, as on "Comatose" there are a couple of dark moments within as well. "Sometimes" delves into the ugly side of the Christian walk, demonstrating the potential numbing power sin can have, while "Would It Matter" focuses on someone at the figurative end of their rope, wondering whether leaving this world would make more of an impact than wandering through it.
Skillet overall tell some great stories and offer some pretty good examples of many roads of faith while chugging right along with the same addicting formula that made "Comatose" such a success. The "power ballads" of which John Cooper is so fond (as he's told many a crowd during shows) on "Awake" leave as much of a mark as the arena-pounding anthems, and much as they did on their previous album, will have fans singing right along with the choruses after a few runs through the disc.

Bottom line: if you liked "Comatose", you'll find more of the same to like in "Awake". Skillet's sound of 2006 has in no way gone stale, and crowds will enjoy raising their hands and shouting along just as much when the show hits the road again. (By the way, to those who criticize Skillet for going "mainstream" or "radio-friendly"...sometimes Christian bands will pull that once in a while to get people to listen and find out what they're truly about. Call it either a sell-out move or a stroke of genius, but it happens more now than ever.)

17 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Just When I Thought I Had Found A New Favorite Band..., August 27, 2009

By 

Lance G. Augustine (The Midwest, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Awake (Deluxe) (Audio CD)

Skillet is a fairly new discovery for me, and I've found their music to be right down my alley. I've been acquiring some of their past efforts, and was excited for this new album. I've heard it several times now, and unfortunately this one hasn't kept that same excitement going. It's not a bad album at all, but I was hoping for something a little better than this.

My main problem with it is that it doesn't offer anything new...recycled melodies (not just of their own past material, but also of other mainstream rock bands) dominate this record, and the lack of originality makes me feel like there's no reason to add this to my collection.

One of my favorite producers, Howard Benson, was directing the show, so I'm very pleased with the sound. But the songs don't stack up to the production quality (my only beef with the production is that the female vocal parts sound like they've been processed using auto-tune software...in other words, they sound a little too polished and perfect).

The opener, "Hero", has a decent amount of power and punch to it, and for me it's the only very good harder song on the album. I didn't care at all for the rocker, "Monster". I haven't counted how many times the word "monster" is sung, but it's a lot...and it gets old fast. Most of the rest of the record consists of mid-tempo, adult-contemporary-type tunes, and while some, especially "Don't Wake Me", do a pretty good job of sending a chill down my spine, the majority don't have any distinguishing characteristics to make them stand out. "Should've When You Could've" is about as cliche as mainstream rock gets, "Believe" has a chorus we've heard a hundred times before, and as the album continues you begin to wonder if the CD skipped and you're hearing the same songs over again. Many of the choruses are virtually identical to each other.

At least "Lucy", a piano/string-based ballad, had an immediate impact on me and strikes me as a song I'll want to hear over and over again. As far as the lyrics, other than "Lucy", I'm not taking in any messages of note. Nothing against Nickelback or Daughtry, but it almost sounds like Skillet tried to make an album with songs that sound like many from those bands' latest offerings. So, while "Awake" is far from being an awful album, Skillet's capable of much better.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Some Bits Shine, But Most Fall Flat, December 15, 2010

By 

Alexandra Geraets "pandasez" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Awake (Audio CD)

I'm not a longtime Skillet fan, and only ever listened to Collide before hearing Awake. I heard the tracks 'Monster' and 'Awake and Alive' on the radio, and enjoyed them enough to hunt the physical album down. I found 'Hero' to be a moderately pleasing opening track, and enjoyed the two singles upon hearing them again. In fact, I was enjoying this album up until I heard 'It's Not Me It's You'. The track is so bitter, even for a harder rock song, that I ended skipping through the rest of it. And, really, that was my assessment of the rest of the album. I kept skipping over tracks after a minute or so in simply because I found the music tiring and the lyrics, in some cases, insipid. Hearing the vocalist insist 'You're gonna miss my love, girl / You should, it would've been so good' ('Should've When You Could've) and 'I went to bed I was thinking about you / It ain't the same since I'm living without you' ('Don't Wake Me') made me grit my teeth, not to mention that one should not rhyme 'you' with 'you'.

Overall, I found Awake to be a mediocre album at best, and an unfortunate album with 'potential' written all over it at worst. There are some good tracks, notably the two lead singles, 'Monster' and 'Awake and Alive', and I found myself enjoying 'One Day Too Late' more for it's lyrical content than the music. I understand that Skillet is (perhaps was, I'm unclear) a Christian-identified rock band, and I realize that religion influences some of their lyrics, but most of the words seem flat and without much meaning. It's a pity, because, again, there is a lot of potential here, and I was really hoping for a good solid rock album to get me through December. Unfortunately, I'll have to look elsewhere.