Skillet - Victorious Album Review

Christian rock band Skillet's back with their 10th full-length album, Victorious, an album meant to make you feel, well, victorious, in the words of lead vocalist/bassist John Cooper. 

So, I first want to talk about my relationship with Skillet, because it's somewhat complicated. I first discovered Skillet through the Awake album a little while after it came out. I grew up on that album, and eventually discovered Collide and Comatose, two albums I love and still spin occasionally to this day (And the even older stuff, which I enjoy well enough). Then Rise came out, and I also loved it. I spun the crap out of that CD, and I still really enjoy it, albeit maybe not as much now. Then Unleashed happened, and I slowly fell out of love with Skillet. It was so bland and messy at the same time, and featured very few standout tracks. It had its moments, but those moments were caught in what I felt was a band running low on fumes. I thought that was what this album was going to be more on the quality of Unleashed, but then something happened; The release of the single Save Me. It was darker and more passionate than anything on Unleashed, and gave me a sense of optimism for this album. And, well, let's take it track-by-track.

Track 1: Legendary

Here we are; If you've heard one song from this album, it's the lead single. Honestly, I guarantee you that the only reason this was the lead single is because the structure's similar to Feel Invincible, and that charted really high and was very successful. Besides that, I guess the opening guitar riff's cool? This is a very meh start to the album. It's very generic, but it's not offensive or anything like that. It's filler for radio, that's all I hear. Not bad, but not the best track to start the album with.

Track 2: You Ain't Ready

So, basically many of my complaints with Legendary carry over here, that being that this is standard radio rock and not very unique, but I like this track better. I like the verses a lot and while the chorus is repetitive, it's catchy enough to draw me in every time I listen to it. The guitars have a decent amount of bite and the electronic elements are kept more minimal than songs further into the record and they don't feel forced and work quite well. So yeah, this is nothing I wouldn't expect from Skillet, but it works well. It's decent enough. 

Track 3: Victorious

Okay, here we are; The album's title track. When I think of an album's title track, it should define the theme of an album and be a standout track, and I'm glad to say Victorious absolutely is. It feels grand and big, but not overwhelming with its stringed sections and vibrant guitars. Lyrically, it's inspired by people battling with depression, and it works pretty well. It reminds me of The Last Night from Comatose from that perspective, and I think it works even better here than it does here. Jen Ledger's backing vocals are wonderful and make the song more grand, especially in the chorus, which soars like a rocket. I think this is one of the best songs Skillet has ever done. It's familiar, yet different at the same time, and defines the album's themes of being victorious and positive beautifully. I honestly would have loved if this song was the closer, because it feels that big and grand. Still, this is fantastic. One of the album's best tracks, if not its best. 

Track 4: This Is The Kingdom

So, what do we get after the fantastic song that is Victorious? Well, we get one of the album's weakest moments. This Is The Kingdom has a good chorus that I could have seen working... if the verses weren't so bad. Many comparisons have been made to Imagine Dragons, and that's spot on. If you like Imagine Dragons, then you probably won't have a problem with this, but they're one of my least favorite bands working today, so I can't stand it. The lyrics in the song aren't bad, but it needed more crunch instrumentally to really drive it home, and much better verses. So yeah, this isn't very good, and is easily one of the album's worst. Very skippable track.

Track 5: Save Me

So, here's another highlight of the album, and the cut that gave me the most optimism for the record. Save Me feels like a Comatose song, and that's a very good thing. I love the vocals and atmosphere in the verses, and the chorus, which is infectious and catchy. The lyrics talk about being caught in a place that makes it hard to continue in your faith, which is always a topic that interests me and I can relate to, so I really dig this. The guitar riffs are very good and feel ripped straight out of the 2000s in a good way. My only real nitpick with this track is that I wish the guitar solo was a bit longer, but even then, that's a pretty small nitpick. This is another great track, and easily one of my favorites. Worth checking out if you haven't already. 

Track 6: Rise Up

So, part's of Rise Up work pretty well. The chorus is pretty catchy, and I like the way Jen Ledger's are included in this. That being said, why do the guitars and Ledger's vocals sound so compressed? A song like this needs a big guitar sound like Monster for example, but it feels so lackluster, which is weird considering no other song really has this problem. The lyrics are also done to death and boring (Seriously John, how many times can you use the word "rise" in your songs?), and incredibly lazy. So yeah, not a very good cut, and a standout in a bad way. Another one I generally skip. 

Track 7: Terrify the Dark

With a title like Terrify the Dark, you'd expect a hard rocker, but this is actually one of 2 ballads on the album aimed at Christian radio, and it sounds very generic. Those opening piano notes have to be stolen from somewhere. They sound that familiar, as do the vocal melodies. There's some decent lyrics when the chorus hit, but that's the only thing that's noteworthy here. Pretty average Christian music overall. Not awful, but very mediocre.  

Track 8: Never Going Back

You know, I could have seen this working as the album's lead single. It's got a nice guitar punch, a good chorus, and a great vocal performance from John Cooper. The electronics are used pretty well here, and don't feel too overused while still being prominent in the mix, particularly in the verses, the main guitar riff is solid, and while this isn't my favorite song from the record, it's still very solid. A bit generic, sure, but it still works pretty well. Very good song, just not quite great. 

Track 9: Reach

Here we have something that feels like John Cooper's side project Fight The Fury, and in a good way. It's one the heaviest songs on the record, with a fantastic chorus that is endlessly catchy. Lyrically, it's another song about struggling with faith, and while it doesn't work quite as well as Save Me did, it still works very well. I love this song. There's no other words for it. It's not quite the best song on the record, but it's still great. Definitely check this out. 

Track 10:  Anchor

So, here I don't have much to say. It's a pretty typical Christian radio single, but it's grown on me with time. It's lyrically pretty typical of one of these songs, and there's no lyrics worth pointing out. What draws me back to it is the simple but very pretty piano sound and the strings that come in the second verse. Besides that, there's not a whole lot of discussion to be had here, but I like this fine. It's far from great, but it's works okay, kind of like You Ain't Ready.

Track 11: Finish Line

So, this track is weird. It feels heavy, but there's barely any guitar in it. It instead takes from the Imagine Dragons influence of This Is The Kingdom, and it actually works here. The production and electronics make the track feel heavy, and I rather like it. It's catchy, the lyrics have a different feel than most Skillet songs, but they work great and fit the song's vibe. I still wish there are some more guitars, because they're almost non-existent and could've pushed this to another level, but I still like this a lot. 

Track 12: Back To Life

With Back To Life, we end with more Comatose-esque vibes. John Cooper sounds straight out of that era on this track. Seriously, I love this delivery here, especially on the chorus. The lyrics are typical Skillet, but they're good and I don't have a problem with them. The ending jam makes sure the album ends on a high note, which is very successful and very much an even better version of the jam at the end of The Resistance from Unleashed. What I love about this jam is that it actually builds off of the main riff from the song, and doesn't feel tacked on; It feels natural and like it's actually part of the song. Another one of my favorites from the record, and while I would've preferred Victorious as the album closer, this still works very well. 

Overall, I don't think this is a perfect album. I had some issues with pacing, particularly when the ballads seemingly show up out of nowhere and with some of the lyrics and style choices, but I still like this quite a bit more than Unleashed. I was expecting Unleashed 2.0, and I got that in parts, but it's not exactly that. While tracks like Legendary would be at home on that record, Some cuts that feel at home here like Finish Line and Reach would've been rather odd in the Unleashed track listing. It stands out well enough and the fans seem to like it, and I do too. Skillet's still not quite making great records again, but they're getting there, and I can tell they were trying. Kudos to them for trying, and I'm hoping the next record builds off of this one's best moments to create something special.

Grade: B (About a 7/10)

Favorite Tracks: Victorious, Save Me, Back To Life, Reach, Finish Line

Least Favorite Tracks: Rise Up, This Is The Kingdom, Legendary