Jordan Hollingsworth

The classical skillet era (2004-2009) is officially over. Collide is probably my second favorite album by them, and Comatose really had some beautiful music in it in terms of guitar and piano. Awake still takes the Cake for me, mostly because the great songs were just that. Absolutely great. I think that losing two members within two albums really hurt their sound. Kasica had that classical guitar background that made all of his riffs so... Unique. Plus, while I love Ledger, I don't think she needs to be in every single song. I thought Awake did an excellent job of balancing her and the actual lead singer of the band. She sang in 2 songs. For whatever reason she had to be in the background in almost every song, even when my discerning ear didn't think she needed it. If I were to sum this album up, it would be this; the Cooper's have an ear for what can work, but they need to get back to Comatose. This album was an ok step in that direction, but I couldn't help but listening to every song and thinking about how much potential seemed wasted. Certain things made skillet famous, and they ran away from them. Bring back the strings. Bring back some classical guitar infused metal. Give us some more angry songs. But "Save me" was one of the best songs I think they've released since 2009. So Victorious has that going for it. That and a lot of lost opportunity and wasted potential. Album could have been greater I think. My 2 cents.