Alien Youth
Skillet
Ardent Records

You have to ask yourself, how can Skillet follow up last year's success? Three Dove nominations, for what would seem extremely different genre's; "Praise and Worship Album of the Year," "Alternative/Modern Rock Recorded Song of the Year," and "Modern Rock/Alternative Album of the Year." For Skillet it means an all out invasion.

An invasion of "Alien Youth" who, as band member Korey Cooper describes them, are "a generation completely radical for God not bound by tradition."

With time comes changes, and Skillet is no stranger to change. No matter how many changes in the band line up Korey states, "the vision or mission of Skillet has always remained solid." This is their call: to reach out to an extreme generation - a generation that is searching for something real.

Admittedly, Skillet is a favorite of mine. They take high energy rock and fuse it with Worship. At the same time they deliver it with a very clear message. Korey explained that while recording "Alien Youth", the band did think about the possibilities of crossing over into the mainstream of rock music. Korey said that the band felt they were called to deliver "un-compromised Christian music in the mainstream." She also said that Skillet would never "water down" it's lyrics or quit preaching the gospel on stage.

"Alien Youth" is more aggressive than previous efforts, both in the industrial electronic sound and in the message. Korey describes it as being more "prophetic" in nature. Again eluding to the extreme environment we live in, and adapting to make a connection.

Skillet will be on the road this fall with Justified and Pillar. The concert series promises to be a high-energy, ministry focused production. At times band leader John Cooper will engage in worship and prayer with the crowd.

Korey talked about their plans to open a youth center in their community. She asked for prayers as they work through the logistics of starting this.

For more information check out www.alienyouth.com, www.skillet.org, or www.ardentrecords.com.