Awake by Skillet

Awake is the 2009 album from the Memphis band Skillet, the record that took them from a known name to a wide audience. It pairs heavy guitars with big strings and a chorus on almost every track. The theme runs through the title: coming alive, fighting back, and refusing to give in to the dark.

Why listen?

The sound is hard rock built for arenas, riffs heavy and melodies wide open. The production is polished and forceful, balancing John and Korey Cooper's vocals against thick layers of sound. The lyrics speak to struggle, rescue, and the will to keep standing. There is a clear arc of falling and rising again across the songs. It is loud music with a steady undercurrent of hope.

Favourite song: Awake and Alive

The track that names the album, a driving anthem about being roused from numbness into life. Its trading vocals push it higher with every line.

I'm awake, I'm alive
Now I know what I believe inside
Now it's my time
I'll do what I want, 'cause this is my life
Here, right now
Stand my ground and never back down
I'm awake and I'm alive

The way the chorus surges feels like cresting a slope and finding your breath again at the top. The song answers despair with a stubborn pulse of life. That refusal to lie down is what has stayed with me.

Key takeaway

Awake is a loud, anthemic rock record about coming alive. A bold, energising listen.

Tracklist

• Hero
• Monster
• Don't Wake Me
• Awake and Alive
• One Day Too Late
• It's Not Me, It's You
• Should've When You Could've
• Believe
• Forgiven
• Sometimes
• Never Surrender
• Lucy

Details

Listen on

• Apple Music
• Amazon
• Spotify

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