Skillet 'Rise' and August Burns Red 'Rescue And Restore,' Fall Within Top 5 On iTunes Albums Chart

'Rise,' by Skillet and 'Rescue & Restore,' by August Burns Red worked their way up the iTunes albums chart on June 26, and found themselves at No. 4 and 5, respectively, immediately following their release.

Skillet released 'Rise,' its first studio album in nearly 4 years, on June 24.  Prior to the full-album release, the band released for tracks, 'Sick Of It,' 'American Noise,' 'Rise,' and 'Not Gonnna Die' to the public.  'Sick Of It,' and 'American Noise,' hit the iTunes Rock Songs Chart at No.1 and 'Rise' and 'Not Gonna Die' appeared at No. 2.  

The success of their single, 'Sick Of It,' has since continued allowing it to keep the No. 1 position on the Christian Rock chart for six weeks in a row, while maintaining a No. 12 on the Active Rock chart.  Meanwhile, critic favorite, 'American noise' has received great success on Christian radio.

August Burns Red, released its newest album, 'Rescue & Restore' just a day later on June 25.  The new album is a break away from the normalcy, even in the world of metal.  It utilizes uncommon instrumentation such as piano, cello, violin, trumpet and various percussive elements.  

"Rescue & Restore is about challenging other bands and ourselves, as well as fans of this music, to want more than whatever happens to be the current buzz," said JB Brubaker, guitarist and principal songwriter for the band, according to their website. "We've done our best with each new album to try to push our sound in new directions and we'd like to see our peers do the same."

Both bands loosely fit under the category of christian rock and have been recognized in the popular music scene at large immediately after their new albums were released.