Skillet Comes Alive

Despite having one of the absolute worst names in rock and roll, Skillet have managed to carve quite a niche out for itself. This contemporary Christian metal band is gargantuan in those circles and after one listen to their latest album, Comatose Comes Alive it's really quite easy to see why.

Having never heard these guys before, I honestly rolled my eyes at the name Skillet. Are they on tour with Deep Fryer? But they even admit that it's a crap name and poke fun at it during the show. It made me laugh that they're able to be self deprecating and still have a good time doing what they do. Still somewhat cynical, upon listening to this Panzer tank disguised as a band, my opinion of them shifted in their favor.

While Skillet play angsty groove laden metal, that's totally FM radio friendly, they mix in enough originality and positivity to make them stand apart like an Oprah Book Club novel. They mix in enough classical music elements, electronics, soaring ballads, and a reinforcement that being positive can still make for good music that they sound like a band, not only on a mission, but a band that's able to create melodically heavy songs that just crush you. When you throw this group into a live situation like they are on Comatose Comes Alive it becomes even more apparent just how good these guys really are and how much fun they have being a band.

For a live recording, Comatose Comes Aliveis unparalleled and sounds so much like a studio record that it's almost hard to believe it is not. While I some of the banter in between songs is kind of hokey, Skillet for the most part are rather funny and endearing when they take a break and it's actually really kind of cool that they left all this stuff in between songs. With that being said, listening to Comatose Comes Alive is like standing in the middle of Chattanooga where this was recorded and having the entire population scream their guts out. It's truly a fantastic recording and the crowd just goes nuts for every song. It's impressive stuff that demands to be heard and it will, whether you want to hear it or not.

They might be Christian and they might be positive but Skillet is clearly a band that can ROCK. Comatose Comes Alive is the sound of an aerial assault with a B-52. It's loud, destructive, and overwhelmingly powerful. Christian or not this is a band worth seeing just for the fact that they are one cool metal band.