Collide

Since Collide was rereleased in 2004 with the same songs, plus one, I will be reviewing that edition, since the explications will still all be there.

9.5/10
Collide completely abandons any traces of Techno, Industrial, or Electronica elements Skillet has had before, and instead reminds the world why they are considered a Hard Rock band.

I recall going madly in love with You, and I remember this, how could I forget?
Forsaken
The album opens with an undeniably heavy guitar intro in the form of Forsaken. Easily in the top 5 heaviest songs Skillet has ever recorded, complete with crusing bass, hardcore drums, shredding guitars, and gutteral screams, Forsaken speaks of feeling, well, forsaken by God, but realizing that everything He does is for us.
I recall pledging my sole devotion to You, it reminds me how, now I'm on my knees. My guilt consumes, lost the will in me. Wasting away before You, hold me closer please.

What you got, what you want, what you need - Gonna be your Savior. Everything's gonna crash and break, your Savior!
Savior
Starting with an acoustic intro with a hint at a strings setting on a keyboard, Savior slams into heavy guitars before mellowing out for the verses, and getting heavy during the chorus and bridge. The songs is from God, to us. It is saying that He knows everything, what we have, what we desire, and what we need, as well as the future, and if we let Him, He will be our Savior.
I am the eyes inside staring back at you! You need, you need...me! Yeah!

And you can't stop me from falling apart, because my self destruction is all your fault!
Open Wounds
The bonus track on the Collide rerelease, it replaced the title track for slot number 3, and the title track was put in between My Obsession and Fingernails. Starting out with an intro that sounds like it could potentially be Alien Youth-esque in a very broad sense of music, it soon reveals itself to be a very angry song. It inspired by John's childhood with his father. They had such a tense relationship that both John and Korey have said that he[John] didn't even want his father at their wedding. But God called John to reach out to his father, and he did, and miraculously his father reached back, proving the power God has. This is one of those songs where listeners can go "Hey! Someone gets it!" because of lines like In the dark with the music on, wishing I was somewhere else. I know, personally, I have found myself in almost that exact scenario countless times.
How could you hate me when all I ever wanted to be was you!? How could you love me when all you ever gave me was open wounds!?

Let the world crash, love can take it. Let the world come crashing down. Let the world crash, love can take it. Love can take a little-, Love can give-, a little more.
A Little More
The albums first ballad, it was originally written by John and Korey for Alien Youth, but they held off, and rerecorded and reproduced it for this record, instead. It is truely a "power ballad" with soft enough instruments, but still not acoustic or "wimpy." Speaking of the power that love can have to change the world, the song encourages people not only to love others more than themselves, but to trust in the love God has for us.
Love is all around, you know, so take a hold. Hidden in our words, sometimes it ain't enough. Don't suffocate day after day, it's building up, cause when your feeling weak, you know I'm strong enough. Just one more day...one more day.

Am I a lunatic? I'm going crazy for just a touch from-, for just a word from-, You.
My Obsession
Drifting out of ballad land into a suppressed guitar intro before slamming into full-force hard rock, My Obsession is just one of those songs that you have no choice but to headbang to. Even now, writing this review is difficult, because my head can't keep still. The is a praise song, calling God our only infatuation, but it serves another purpose. For me, anyway, it made me think "if God isn't my only obsession, what am I doing wrong?" and started to focus less on worldly things and more on Him.
You're my only infatuation! Don't leave me stranded in my obsession! My purpose, my possesions, live and die in my obsession!
**I would like to take a few sentances to analyze that line there. It won't take long. Basically, his purpose and possessions only exist because God will them to (living in his obsession), and he will gladly discard them if he feels compelled to by God (dying in his obsession). Some people couldn't comprehend that, so I thought I'd break it down**

There's something deep inside that keeps my faith alive when all you can do is hide from the fear that's deep inside of you.
Collide
This song was track 3 on the original Collide, but got moved here to have the order sound better with Open Wounds added. Opening with an awesome orchestrated intro, the song gets boring after that. Yay, heavy guitars that just play the same power chord over and over and over and over. And the something, something, something, something, something reptition during the chorus gets redundant and annoying after the first time hearing the chorus. The song itself is about finding a reason to believe amidst all the fear in our lives, hence the title, coming from the line Can we take a chance when faith and fear collide? It is a message of hope, fitting before Fingernails, but the song itself gets old, fast, except the intro.
We have fallen again tonight. Where do we go from here when they're tearing down our lives?

Never reaching what I want to reach. Never being who I want to be. Blaming me when I fall and fail, all my dreams splintering under my fingernails.
Fingernails
A suitably creepy intro preceedes a heavy song, with blazing guitars throughout. The song is about realizing that we are not perfect, a fact that some people struggle to deal with, and blame themselves for. Yet, if we were perfect, Christ's sacrifice on the Cross would have been in vain, so as dark as the message sounds, without any sort of line of hope in the song, clinging to that fact makes the message behind the song even more apparant.
I'm suffering, I'm bleeding, on my knees, who's gonna save me? Suffering....bleeding....save me from this pit of frailty!

Tears falling down again, come let the healing begin
Imperfection
As drums, guitar, and keys slowly start to rise in volume, and bass is added to it, you are being prepared for the best song on the record, by far. Following Savior's pattern of mellowing out in the verses, and getting heavy in the choruses and bridge, the song also includes one of my favorite solos from Skillet. The song itself is similar in theme to Fingernails, but spoken from God's perspecitve. "Yeah, I know all that, but why can't you see what I see?" Mixing in lyrics that once again reveals the heart and compassion of Skillet, with lyrics that just scream "I get it! I've been there too!" and other lyrics with a message of hope, revealing that God doesn't expect us to be perfect. Once again, if we were, Jesus Christ died for nothing.
You fall to your knees, you beg, you plead "can I be somebody else for all the times I hate myself!?" Your failures devour your heart in every hour, you're drowning in your imperfection.

When I hurt, when I bleed, You're holding me!
Under My Skin
The second and final ballad on the album, it is a praise song to God, basically saying he heals all our wounds. Like A Little More, this song is a little edgier than most ballads, but still not even close to a rocker. This is a good song, overall, but it gets old pretty fast. Except for the bridge, which is amazing.
Could I be lost, could I disappear? Could I be lost, would you find me here? Could I be lost in a secret place? Could I rest in the shadow of Your Face?

Power is another word that I use to describe You, Your mighty winds come and blow me away!
Energy
Quite possibly the heaviest song on the record, with the only competition being Forsaken, you know you are in for a face-melter when you hear the intro guitars and Cooper's screaming. It is a praise song, but out of the form of a ballad. In that sense it's reminiscent of Disciple's "Before You," even though the songs don't sound anywhere close to similar. Definitely in my top three from Collide, along with Imperfection and Open Wounds.
You're a silent rage, You're a hurricane, You are everything I cannot see and can't explain. You're an enigma wrapped in a mystery, everywhere I go I can't escape Your energy!

I am on a higher ground, You are my cure from the cycle down.
Cycle Down
Opening with heavy guitars, the song is similar to Savior and Imperfection in structure, but not QUITE as good as either. The lyrics are about how low we as humans can sometimes feel, and sink into a pit of despair in a cycle of depression and anger, but God can be our cure from that cycle down into a nightmare.
Sinking in a sea of self, deception never sold so well. Regret like I have not, pain like I don't want...