SauronTheGreat, you poor soul
5
By FitForAnImpendingDoom100
Praising Awake and calling this forgettable? Really? Awake is the one that’s forgettable (not to mention hot garbage), not Alien Youth! For one, Alien Youth is not only METAL, it’s one of the heaviest Christian metal albums ever made. Up to this point Skillet was making great albums that still to this day put Awake, Rise, Unleashed, and Victorious to utter shame with the sophistication and maturity and quality they have, but Alien Youth surpassed them all. Stronger was and will forever be their heaviest song ever, and one of the heaviest Christian songs I’ve ever heard. The rest doesn’t disappoint in the least. Back then Skillet’s ballads were actually beautiful and emotional, not the string-laden soggy pretzel schmaltz of inanities like Lucy and Stars; case in point, Will You Be There and One Real Thing, as well as Come My Way. The jagged, bone-crunchingly raw production brought out the industrial parts well and even now is extremely powerful, courtesy of John Cooper (how the mighty fall). Other steel shredding monsters on the album were Kill Me Heal Me, Rippin’ Me Off, Eating Me Away, Earth Invasion and the title track. Thirst Is Taking Over is indescribable, it’s perfect in every way. This was Skillet’s absolute peak; Collide and Comatose were awesome, but Comatose wound up being their downfall, which Collide hinted at. Alien Youth stands tall and free of such burdens, and is one of the most exemplary Christian albums ever recorded. Their post-2006, pre-2022 rubbish will never change that.
Skillet’s all time best
5
By Ragnarhasknots
Skillet never got better than they did here. As good as Collide and Comatose were, Collide showed a tiny hint of their degradation and Comatose’s formula has been milked to death even to this day. Alien Youth, on the other hand, has no flaws to complain of. If modern day Skillet can be considered metal (which they are in the Motley Crue sense of the term), then this could be considered true metal. Indeed, they never got heavier than “Rippin’ Me Off” or “Stronger”, and never got to top an epic such as “The Thirst is Taking Over” ever again. “Will You Be There (Falling Down)” has got to be the most soothing song I have ever heard, in addition to being the band’s best ballad. “Alien Youth” grooves on a near hip hop metallic grind, and “Eating Me Away” revels in its chaos. Masterfully made, it puts their post-2007 work into deeper a corner of shame and makes one lament that they stopped writing good music.