Some links: Buy on Amazon | Skillet’s Homepage | The obligatory MySpace page
I first heard Skillet on Christian Rock.net, and in particular it was their song “Rebirthing” that caught my ear. Don’t let the “Christian” title put you off – this is proper rock (at least, as I know it) and should be judged alongside other bands. I also really liked the promo they had at the time for this album.
The album is a bit of weird mixture – as with all albums some tunes hit you straight away, and others take a while to get used to. For quite a heavy sounding band, they had more lighter sounding tracks on the album than I was expecting, and one or two of those took longer to get used than I was expecting.
The band consists of a bassist (who is the lead singer), drummer, guitarist, and a combined keyboard/guitar/singer. They quite bass led at times, with lots of good hefty guitar work going on in the background – if I had hair I’d even consider moshing to one or two of the songs in particular (assuming no-one was looking). The keyboard work tends to lend itself more to some of the quieter songs, but is used really effectively even in the heavier stuff. They also use strings in a couple of songs, which really add some depth in a couple of places (I assuming it’s “real” strings, rather than synth-ed, but I could be wrong).
I’m not one for giving ratings – I don’t really listen to enough music to give a proper, useful opinion. I really like the album – there are a couple of tracks that I skip when I’m feeling “rock-y” (namely 3 – ‘Yours to Hold’, 7 – ‘Those Nights’ and 9 – ‘Say Goodbye’), but they’re still good listening if you’re in the mood.
Check out the tunes available on their site, and their myspace page, and if you want a loan of the CD, let me know.
mrBen