“Victorious” Skillet, Album Review

Album Genre:

Hard rock, symphonic metal, alternative rock, alternative metal

Skillet, the quartet who introduced the mighty combination of rock and Christian inspiration, have been rocking their way through 9 studio albums and a bevy of live tours. Their previous album Unleashed was nominated for a GMA Dove for Album of the Year and subsequently certified Gold. Despite the confetti and fanfare, the Unleashed album bares open repetitive instrumentation and at-times poor lyrics. All fair points to critique and improve. Victorious, then, comes at an important juncture in the band’s timeline, as fans grow restless for new music and the metal radio public thirsts for new rock bangers.

Album Rating: 7 / 10

Review:

So what do you get with Victorious? The 44 minute album sets off with the track “Legendary” which sees a melodic synthesizer oscillate back and forth until it solicits the rarefied sound of Seth Morrison’s PSG electric. Victorious reduces the use of violin symphonic introductions instead opting for heavier guitar-work and punchier drums to fill in the space. Though there is still a fair amount of violin sounds heralding the start of a song, as Skillet is wont to do.

The first track “Legendary” does a suitable job starting the album. Things move on steadily with decent rock showings “You Ain’t Ready” and the title track “Victorious”, which is a pleasant initial listen but grows simplistic upon second listens. The album’s first major blunder — “This is the Kingdom” — is a rock ballad that performs and sounds well for what it is trying to accomplish but does not sound like a Skillet song. Its instrumentation is decidedly alternative rock and very reminiscent of Imagine Dragon. I have no complaints with this, in fact I would praise this bridging of genres. But the song is just not very good; even fervent Skillet fans will admit its boyish sound and plodding lyrics. After several refrains of “this is the kingdom …” the song fades away and we move on to the next track. And boy what a track it is: “Save Me”

Easily among the best on the album, “Save Me” is a worthy excursion into hard rock and alternative metal. The song is expertly packaged, never once wearing thin its welcome. The impending piano melody announces the start of the song. The crunch of Morrison’s guitar and punctuating ornaments of Ledger’s drumming is a lovely concoction. The song moves quickly from verse, to bridge, to refrain, — a speed quite helpful in offsetting its simplistic lyrics (“Save me, Save me…”); but despite these shortcomings, the instrumentation is so enjoyable. This is a slick metal song suitable for grinding at the gymn or as merry background music to a video gaming session. In “Save Me” we also get a dynamic and moderately inventive guitar solo — among the best in the album. A welcome addition to Skillet’s growing genre bridging, “Save Me” is my favorite track of the album. The chorus is among the most satisfying guitar-work I have heard in both a skillet album and Christian rock/metal album.

“Rise Up” is an anthem that follows up well after the intensity of “Save Me.”“ Next, we have Terrify the Dark” a hopeful rock song that is adequate but woefully bland. Both the lyrics and instrumentation in this song are as unique as the color space grey is. Also, the melody at the refrain is over-bearing even after a few listens. In general, the thematic of “rising up” is a bit cartoon and certainly an overdone thematic.

With “Never Going Back,” we go back to rocky grooves and thick guitar fills. The song structure of this song is well-measured, — the verse does not feel too short nor does the refrain — a major sticking point with Skillet songs. We even get a short solo near the end. “Reach” is a another good rock debut. In it, Morrison’s guitars semi-palm mute through the verse and thud in at the refrain. Cooper’s vocals sounds good. The lyrics however are quite poor (“ No one could ever get me more. Nothing could ever fix me more”). “Reach” is a song with a lot of potential — the chorus feels incongruous and does not fit the song.

“Anchor” comes off as a well-positioned rock ballad pleasing to listen and works well with Cooper’s voice. Ledger’s background vocals do offer some decent harmony but sometimes such harmony may come off as a bit too breathy and machinated. The refrain’s best part is Cooper heralding his last line in the refrain ( “in every weight of the storm !” ).

“Finish Line” is one of the most forgettable songs in the album. Skillet attempts to re-create the Imagine Dragon’s sound once more as it did with “This is the Kingdom” but it does not work. The sound recreated here also reminds me of Hozier’s “Take Me To Church.”

The album ends in an incredibly strong note with the heavy metal and nu metal “Back to Life.” A proclamation for getting a grip back on life, Cooper bellows with familiar clarity and passion. First-person songs fit Skillet much better than generic vague tracks about ‘the world’ or a collective “we.” To boot, we get a enjoyable guitar solo, where Morrison runs a short scale and holds the note, the drums and bass doing duets in the background. Lovely guitar work in the verse as well. It was a good choice to end the album on this song. A great track.

Conclusion:

Victorious attempts to reiterate the familiar rock trappings and the symphonic metal signature of previous albums while providing fans with something new to listen, if and when Unleashed grows tired. I think it succeeds, offering a strong album coming off Unleashed, 3 great tracks, a decently cohesive listening experience and the band’s experimental outgrowing in progressive metal and alternative rock. Songs like “Save Me”, “Never Going Back” and “Back to Life” were memorable listening experiences. The slower rock ballad “Anchor” was extremely poignant and worked well — despite the fact that ballads are not my preference. In addition, the female vocals of Ledger and (Kory) Cooper have been better interspersed within many of these tracks, oftentimes letting (John) Cooper’s vocals do more heavy lifting than in previous individual tracks.