Somewhere in Wisconsin, there is a 1-year-old girl named Alexandria Cooper. I think I want to be her, because man, she's got some of the coolest parents in the world. You know how most musicians seem to "mellow out" and write more reflective songs when they have kids? Well, not Alexandria's parents, the core members of the Christian rock band Skillet. If anything, they did the opposite.

If I had to choose one word to describe Skillet's brand new album Collide, that word would be "brutal". Perhaps that description might be met with skepticism from those who listen to "harder" music on a regular basis, since Skillet has a bit of a reputation for being a pop band in an industrial/hard rock band's body, But I think we can safely say that with this new album, Skillet is probably the most popular band in Christian music that could be described using the aforementioned word. (Hey, it's not my fault P.O.D. mellowed out!) Sure, there are much harder bands in the Christian rock underground, but out of the "A-list" artists, I would have to say that Skillet is the roughest of the bunch. Whether that is a statement on the generally unaccepting and un-diversified state of the Christian music industry is another question entirely, but it's safe to say that Skillet probably would have had a much more difficult time getting where they are today if their music had been this intense all along.

Before I scare those of you who liked Skillet for reasons besides their aggressiveness, let me assure you that the band hasn't gone hardcore on us. Their last album, Alien Youth, had some songs on it that were pretty dang loud, and yet underneath it all there was always a definite melody. Lead singer John Cooper always had a raw scratchiness to his voice that lent itself well to more aggressive music and sounded somewhat lacking when the band slowed down, so it's not much of a surprise that the band would continue to explore the more aggressive side of their persona. The major change that seems to have happened between then and now is that keyboard player/background vocalist Korey Cooper had a baby last year. That meant that she wasn't as present during the writing and recording process as the rest of her bandmates, and so a lot of the songs that John was writing ended up being more based around Ben Kasica's grinding guitars, Lori Peters' pounding drums, and his own shredding vocals than the techno/industrial stuff that the band had been flirting with since Hey You, I Love Your Soul (which is still their most solid album even if they've developed a thicker sound since then). The result, aside from a pair of briefly mellower songs that Korey co-wrote, is a great example of what happens when Skillet decides to let loose and rock out. It's the type of album that, whether you love it or hate it, is likely to elicit a dumbfounded reaction of "sheesh!" either way. It's just obnoxiously loud.

To me, that was an exciting prospect, so long as the songwriting didn't falter in the process. I tend to be one of the more old-school panheads that liked the lyrics John wrote in the early days with their old guitarist Ken Steorts. They were creative and poetic in their own violent way. Ken's departure led to a more straightforward, and sometimes militant approach, which meant that Alien Youth, Skillet's first album produced without outside help, had some real lyrical stinkers on it. Thankfully, the group had hooked up with mainstream producer Paul Ebersold on this album (he actually worked on the band's debut back in 1996 as well), and I think that helped to temper some of the more embarrassing lyrical turns, while not at all quashing Skillet's need to be outspoken about their Christian beliefs. Collide seems to take more of a first-person approach to faith - rather than launching creepy diatribes about how Jesus is taking over the world, it describes the process of Jesus taking over the singer's personal world. I think that approach works better for pretty much any Christian songwriter. Sure, there are still breaks for the usual "aggressive worship" numbers that aren't terribly profound but manage to display Skillet's personality and entertain effectively, and there's even an out-of-place love song in the mix (thankfully it doesn't come as that much of a shock after hearing the blissful "Will You Be There?" immediately following a diatribe against Marilyn Manson on the last disc). It all takes a bit of getting used to.

Collide might not be the totally mainstream friendly disc that some Skillet fans have touted it as, but the album holds its own as a head-banging good time, full of songs that, underneath the cacophony of guitars and drums and more-than-occasional screams, seem frail enough at times to burst at the seams. The scaling back on electronics (Korey still provides some keyboard sounds and synthesized strings and stuff, but the focus is most definitely not on her this time out) gives these songs a raw feeling that we haven't heard from the band since the days of classic songs like "Gasoline" and "I Can". And yet at the same time, a few of the songs smartly echo modern trends without borrowing too heavily from them. It's a flawed approach, and yet it's brilliant at the same time.

Forsaken
Regret is a needle in my neck
It's slowly filling me with poison
Spreading to my chest...
The chugging guitar chords at the beginning of this song gave me a sense of déjà vu, because they sound quite similar to the urgent intro from "Going Under" that opened up Evanescence's Fallen CD, which is one of the few albums this year I anticipated as eagerly as this one. The song hits with just as much fervor as "I Can" did all those years ago - even making use of a few light piano breaks (which are also an eerie echo of the pre-chorus from "Going Under") - and the subject matter is similar too, since the song deals with wanting to come back to Christ after having betrayed Him. This sort of confessional approach makes the screaming and anger believable, unlike some bands who disguise happy worship anthems as post-teenage angst. The scaling back of Korey's electronics (aside from some inexplicable digitizing of John's voice here and there) gives the song a slightly clunky feel at times as Lori hammers her way through unembellished, but there's a certain charm to that quality, as if the song is a musical Frankenstein that's been pasted together from various sources. You'll get that feeling a lot as you listen to this album.

Savior
It's time to redefine your deophobic mind
Don't hesitate, there's no escape
The secret's on the inside...
Korey and Ben treat us to a tasty intro on the album's runaway first single, hooking us in with fake strings and acoustic guitar before pulling a total 180 and crashing headlong into a pulverizing distorted riff. For sure, there's a lot of stock power chordage on this album, which gets a little old at times, but for this song, it definitely helps to keep a stranglehold on the listener's attention. I might have spoken of a more subtle lyrical approach earlier, but this song is definitely on Skillet's more blunt side - basically it's taking the point of view of Christ and telling someone of their desperate need for a Savior. "What you got, what you want, what you need, can it be your Savior?" is a far cry from a cryptic chorus, but it's got a punctuated (and catchy) urgency to it, so I can't complain too much. Things turn a bit too monochromatic during the song when John is screaming "I am the eyes staring back at you!" and Ben is banging away on that same chord, but for one of Skillet's more straight-ahead songs, this one definitely packs a strong punch and I can't help but enjoy it.

Collide
We are falling, we are falling again tonight
Where do we go from here, when they're tearing down our lives...
Hey, didn't Jars of Clay have a song called "Collide" as track #3 on If I Left the Zoo? No matter. Skillet takes a more drawn out approach on this one with a longer string intro (to the point where it actually seems a bit out of place), underneath which the bubbling keyboard noises of Skillet's past begin to bleed in, and suddenly the band has broken into a chorus that effectively mirrors Linkin Park's hit "Crawling". I can't complain about that, so long as the band doesn't overdo it. They've written an interesting song here about how faith and fear collide, and it helps to interpret the baffling album cover where a mannequin with angel wings has a snake in place of its head. It's an exploration of the tension between human sinfulness and doubt, and God's righteousness living within that person somehow, and it's a difficult thing to fully be comfortable with. Skillet does a good job of mixing peace and rage with the various elements of their music, and while this song has more of an "epic" quality that makes it seem like it'd be better placed at the end of the album, it's still a standout right where it is. Now if we could only shore up that chorus a little bit - John holds his notes for way too long and it doesn't quite work.

A Little More
I'll stand beside you, never leave through it all
And faith will bring a way to the impossible...
Apparently John and Korey had written a love song of sorts while working on Alien Youth, but they felt that it didn't fit into the album, so it ended up on Collide instead. (Their producer actually talked them into including it this time.) As Skillet's power ballads go, it's not a bad one, even if it does fall into the trap of speaking very generically about how wonderful and strong love is instead of speaking specifically about the couple's relationship. It also sounds conspicuously out of place when its "pretty" guitar intro kicks in. Sure, Skillet has always had at least a few "mellower" songs that offered a break in between their more intense songs, but in the early days there was still an underlying darkness in the melodies of tracks like "Saturn", "Safe with You", "Coming Down", etc. that made them fit into their surroundings. That's missing from the equation here, so instead this song comes off as an awkward rewrite of "You Are My Hope" crossed with "Each Other", and amped up with grittier guitars and vocals during the chorus. I think it's gonna be a tough one for Skillet fans on either side of the fence (the rockers and the worship junkies who enjoy their calmer radio hits) to fully embrace.

My Obsession
I spend my days tangled in thoughts of You
Stuck in this place, resigned to be Your fool...
A snarling guitar line propels Skillet back into heavy-duty mode (reminds me a bit of how "Pour" took off after the ending of "More Faithful"). The band borrows a lyrical idea from Delirious? on this one, since John is singing/screaming about being so in love with God that he's losing his mind. His approach is a bit overboard if you ask me (especially when he spits out the line "worship the air You breathe") - not that I question the validity of this loud passion or anything; it just doesn't sound as convincing in this context as when it's mixed with a more "confessional" style of songwriting. The band pulls an interesting rhythmic trick on this one, remaining in 4/4 most of the way through the song, but starting each line of the verse either earlier or later than the ear is trained to expect, making it difficult to remember where the first beat of each measure falls. Later in the song they shift into 6/8 and Ben goes wild on his guitar. It seems a bit awkward at first, but they don't sound sloppy at all as they come crashing through the obstacle course. It takes talent to do stuff like that and stay together - this is going to be an interesting one to hear live.

Fingernails
I watch it all slip through my hands
My brokenness revealed
I'm so proud, I'm so proud, I'm crying to be filled...
What can I say but, WOW. This song is just sweet. Korey gives us a little Nine Inch Nails flavor with her spooky piano intro as John softly sings the chorus (which he will later be screeching at the top of his lungs!), reminding me a bit of "Thirst Is Taking Over", which I think is the best song the band's ever done. But then Ben rips the whole thing to shreds with another guitar attack in 6/8, somehow carrying the same riff over into the verse even as it settles back into 4/4. This song is definitely his biggest chance to shine, since he gets to chug-a-chug on the low notes and then jump to the squealing high notes, as if daring the rest of the band to keep up. John is singing about a moment of desperation in which all of his petty human dreams are out of reach and yet, paradoxically, crumbling underneath his fingernails. To some, this song is going to be like fingernails on a chalkboard as it crashes through its various sections and John's screaming gets more and more intense... and yet that melodic undercurrent that Skillet seems to have perfected is always readily apparent, giving this song a lion's share of killer hooks. Much like "Vapor" on the last album, it's one of those songs that just mows down everything its path and then comes crashing to a halt, as if staring you defiantly in the face and daring you, "Beat THAT!"

Imperfection
No one escapes, every breathe we take
Dealing with our own skeletons...
So the band went and wrote an "issues" song. John admitted that it was a bit of a stretch for him, but he felt compelled to write a song about teen suicide, so this is the result. It fades in on a mellow but somewhat militant drum beat while John's bass and Ben's guitar add soft but ominous textures, and then John begins to sing in a much softer (but still raspy) tone, addressing a down and out youngster who can't find the strength to go on. I'm a bit ambivalent about this one, because the verses seem to be ripped directly from Hallmark cards, saying things like "How special you are", which I think would only frustrate a person who's probably heard such phrases thrown around without meaning one too many times. It dilutes the power of more fitting statements like "You're fearfully and wonderfully made" - a paraphrase from the Bible that gets at our inherent worth as well as our human shortcoming. And then the band hits us with another rip-roaring chorus about drowning in imperfection - I'll admit that chills sometimes go up my spine when I hear the words "Can I be somebody else for all the times I hate myself?", because I've been there. I just think the song's a bit too long on pat answers and short on real empathy. Taking the "I've been there" approach might have worked better - while it is logically true that every human being is a person of value, the approach here still seems a bit impersonal.

Under My Skin
Oh the sweet serenity, I'm beautifully addicted
You are more than I can take, I crave You undiluted...
Okay, you know it's not a good sign when a song by a supposedly "hard" rock band opens with a bright acoustic guitar line that rips off "Everything She Does Is Magic" by The Police. Not good at all! I hate to say it, but Korey's other lyrical contribution to this album feels like a holdover from Invincible, when the band was much poppier. The chorus still has the same vocal intensity as the rest of the album, but the lyrics and melody are a bit too "fluffy" for it to be believable when matched up with the music. This is probably the closest thing to a straight-up "worship song" that you'll find here, though I don't think it's going to adapt to that setting as easily as "You Are My Hope" and "Rest" did. It's basically a softer take on "My Obsession".

Energy
Divine is a reality that You define
You defy time...
This particular number has already been road-tested by the band as the flagship song for their new sound, and reports are that concertgoers have been blown away by it. Now, remember what I said earlier about tortured screaming in worship songs? It generally doesn't work. Skillet definitely tries their hardest to be aggressive on this one, sacrificing a bit of their usual tunefulness in the process, but the result is more grating than appealing. It doesn't help that the whole "hurricane" metaphor was done much better in the older song "Whirlwind". I generally like songs that find God in nature, and Skillet has always been God at describing the more forceful side of who God is, something we don't hear much about in most of today's feel-good worship music, but all the time, Skillet has done this before, and much better. (See "You're Powerful".) And what's with the frat boy yells of "yeah yeah" that John interjects out of nowhere in the first verse. Just plain silly, that's what that is.

Cycle Down
Sinking in a sea of self
Deception never sold so well...
For the most part, Skillet has had a penchant for ending their albums inexplicably with a faster song that cuts off somewhat abruptly (at least, if you ignore the piano ballad on Alien Youth and you don't count the hidden track on Invincible), so it's no surprise that they cap off Collide with another tasty crash course. I like Skillet best when their lyrics at least take a little bit of deciphering. It's very untrue to its title, which would lead you to expect a mellow "comedown" sort of song - instead it does just the opposite, mirroring the wish to go higher instead of being dragged down into a cycle of sin. At least that's how I interpret it. It doesn't end things off as nicely as, say, "Scarecrow" from Hey You, I Love Your Soul, but with only ten songs, I guess I knew better than to expect a complete and flawlessly paced masterpiece of a rock album.

Even for seasoned Skillet fans, this one's going to have to simmer for a bit before the full flavor of it becomes apparent. It could be downright headache-inducing if listened to an excessive number of times at once... and yet I have to admire the band for giving me something that allows me to declare without hesitation, "This ROCKS!" Sometimes you just need an album like this to get your aggressions out, and even if I've complained about lyrical shortcomings in certain places, it's certainly true that none of the songs are as stoopid as "Rippin' Me Off" or "Stronger", the weak points on Alien Youth. So go ahead and have fun with this one. You old-school Skillet fans have been waiting for this for a while now.

Let's just hope John and Korey use something a little mellower to sing their daughter to sleep!

(NOTE: This album was given a mainstream re-release in 2004 on Lava Records, with an extra song called "Open Wounds". I have not yet been able to hear the song, so I can't offer my opinion on it.)

ALBUM WORTH:
Forsaken $1.50
Savior $2
Collide $2
A Little More $1.50
My Obsession $2
Fingernails $2
Imperfection $1
Under My Skin $1
Energy $1
Cycle Down $1.50
TOTAL: $15.50

Band Members:
John Cooper: Lead vocals, bass
Korey Cooper: Keyboards
Ben Kasica: Guitars
Lori Peters: Drums

Website: http://www.skillet.org
(Why does their "Low-Bandwidth Version" still require Flash? Do they know nothing about web design?)

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Driving