Skillet Celebrates 'Rise' To Success With Popular New Album And Previous Album, 'Awake,' Going Platinum

Last week, Skilllet celebrated the success of their new album, 'Rise,' as well as and their previous album, 'Awake' (2009), which went platinum in 2012.  In addition to receiving the platinum honor for 'Awake,' Skillet also received RIAA Gold certification for its singles, 'Hero' and 'Awake & Alive.'

They attended a party at the Hudson Hotel in New York City, hosted by Atlantic Records in order to celebrate their recent success and impact in the mainstream rock industry.  The event was attended by Atlantic Records' Chairman/CEO, Craig Kallman, Chairman/COO, Julie Greenwald and EVP/Head of A&R, Pete Ganbarg.

Their new album, 'Rise' has seen a great deal of success since its release on June 25 and currently holds the No. 1 position on the iTunes Top Rock Album chart.  It has been critically acclaimed and features its popular title track, 'Rise,' as well as the popular single, 'Sick Of It.'

The band had promoted the new album on the radio, social media and in live performances leading up to its release, increasing the already present anticipation for the album after four years going by since their last release.  Skillet released  four tracks off the record, 'Sick Of It,' 'American Noise,' 'Rise' and 'Not Gonna Die,' prior to the record's release date.  These songs received immediate success even before the album was released.

"Probably the thing that is the most unique about this record is that it's our very first concept record, lead vocalist, John Cooper explained in a preview podcast at Billboard.com.  "Basically this album is telling a story from the first song to the last."

And the new album is relatable.  "It's exciting," Cooper added. "It's an album basically about your typical teenager coming into adulthood and they're faced with all these problems in the world, all the terrible things we're seeing out there, school shootings and bombings and hurricanes and floods and also all the inward problems and things happening in their own lives where they're being bullied at school and pressure from their parents and fighting in a broken home and all these kind of things. So, the story is telling about this person who is trying to rise above all of this darkness that they are in and it's their kind of search for significance and hope in a hopeless world in faith."

They decided to do interludes to tell the story and to make the new album a little bit more like a skillet show. They utilized phone calls and other interesting interludes to try to get the story across without really talking. These touches make the storyline really hit home in a powerful way, they evoke the feeling of real-life tragedy.

'Rise' continues to see growing success and is expected to see equal, or possibly even more success than 'Awake' and the other albums that Skillet has released in the past.