Skillet - Rise (Deluxe) (2013) [Hi-Res]

Rise, Grammy Award-nominated Christian rockers Skillet's ninth studio album, is built around a loosely knit narrative that charts the course of an everyday teenager's ascension to adulthood, and the challenges of maintaining one's faith in a largely unforgiving world. Such a vague story, despite numerous evocative, yet largely unnecessary between-song interludes, yields little in the way of any kind of investable, individual emotional arc, but the more general themes of self-discovery, faith, love, and loss resonate enough to pull at least one of the listeners feet into the story. The tight, anthemic title cut sets the stage, offering up a rousing, radio-ready declaration of solidarity that admits to the cumbersomeness of youth while maintaining a glass-half-full world view, which is a common thread throughout the album's 12 immaculately produced tracks. Operating under a fairly generic umbrella that fuses alt-metal, hard rock, post-grunge, and soaring alternative rock, Skillet's faceless amiability is ultimately its downfall, and its penchant for following each full-on rocker like "Circus for a Psycho" and "Sick of It" with a midtempo ballad ("Good to Be Alive," "American Noise," respectively) gives the proceedings an air of inevitability that detracts from its supposed narrative. That said, it's hard to root against Rise, as its commercial aspirations are matched by its certainty that, despite the endless smackdowns delivered by the daily grind, goodness will ultimately prevail. ~ James Christopher Monger