Awake and Remixed
Posted April 11, 2011
By AKnetsirK,
"Hard rock" and "remix" don't seem to go together. Yet here we are with Skillet's latest project: remixes by Skillet's own Korey Cooper and former guitarist Ben Kaisca. The four tracks come from Skillet's latest and most succesful album, Awake. Firstly, I should admit I stand with the minority in thinking that Awake was a step backwards for the band, so I had little to no expectations for this release. Plus, more often than not, remixes annoy me. They're usually just sped up and drawn out versions of a song that never make it to the level of the original. However, Skillet do step out of that norm, for better or worse.
This point is proven with the first track. Awake and Alive was given a very poor remix title. The Quickening? I guess it sounds better than The Slowing. The whole song is much slower than the original which you won't find in most remixes.The next track, Hero (Legion of Doom remix), isn't a very surprising or memorable rearrangement of the song. Also, it's around this point I started noticing how the vocals don't go well with the music. John Cooper's fantastic made-for-rock voice pulled from the heavier original songs don't mesh well to me in 3 out of 4 of these lighter tracks. There is that one exception though. Don't Wake Me (Pull Remix) surprised me. I'm not a fan of the original and, thankfully, I find myself liking the remix moreThe last track I found myself enjoying a bit too. Monster (Unleash the Beast) starts off well
My low expectations were exceeded, I'll give them that. Still, it's a very mellow listen and I can't picture myself listening to it often. Besides the surprise of Don't Wake Me, the EP serves as another example of remixes that fall short of the originals. Hopefully Skillet will bounce back soon with new material.
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