Tower Students Blog

Skillet is “Awake and Alive.” *****

Skillet’s Comatose is one of my all time favorite CDs. It was so original with its lyrics, as well as the mix of standard rock instruments (guitars, drums), piano, violin, and layered vocals. Every song was excellent. The anticipation for Awake started building when Skillet released the single “Hero”. It was as good as anything on Comatose. However, while I was looking forward to Awake, I was also worried that “Hero” was the best song on the CD, and that everything else would fall flat. But Skillet did not disappoint.

“Awake and Alive” seems to be a direct follow up to the song “Comatose,” not only sound-wise but lyrically as well. “Comatose” was about not being able to wake up unless Christ’s presence was felt. “Awake and Alive” says that now that they are awake, they’ll stand strong for Christ even if it means battling the whole world.

Between studio albums, Jen Ledger joined the band as the drummer and she has also picked up the role of backup vocalist. Her soprano like voice has added yet another level of depth to their sound.

As on Comatose, there is a mixture of Ballads (“Don’t Wake Me” and “Lucy”), Hardcore Rock songs (“Monster” and “Awake and Alive”), and some that fall in between (“Forgiven” and “One Day Too Late”). The regular version of the CD has 12 tracks, but you can pick up a deluxe version with 3 bonus tracks: “Dead Inside,” “Would it Matter,” and the radio version of “Monster.” Personally, the bonus tracks are completely worth the additional money. I love this CD and highly recommend it. I would not go so far as to say that it is, as a whole, better than Comatose, but they are on the same level.

Review of “Gone” by Michael Grant

This is the way the word ends…

Gone begins with the lead character, Sam Temple, a fourteen-year-old surfer living in Perdido Beach, California, at school. Suddenly, the teacher disappears, and a few other students. Blink. Gone. With some investigating, Sam realizes that everyone over the age of fifteen has mysteriously disappeared. And after teaming up with best friend Quinn, Astrid “The Genius”, and her autistic, four-year-old brother Little Pete, they find that they are closed off from the rest of the world by a mysterious wall, or dome. There is no way in, and no way out. No phone service, no internet, no nothing. The kids are all on their own. This strange phenomenon is quickly dubbed “The FAYZ”, standing for “Fallout Alley Youth Zone”.

Other things are happening too: Animals are mutating. Some kids are developing strange powers, including Sam him self. A sinister creature lurks. And some seemingly pleasant students from the private school are coming down to take over, only to soon reveal they have a bigger plan than just restoring order. And then there is the looming fear of your fifteenth birthday: will you disappear too?

This book is definitely a page-turner. Had I no other obligations as I was reading it, I would have without a doubt finished it in a day, despite the novel’s size of about 600 pages. It has a fast-paced, original plot, full of surprises. It has the perfect mix of action, comedy, suspense, drama, mystery, and yes, some romance. It is definitely one of my favorite books of all time. That’s right, I said it: all time.

Gone is the first book of a series of six, with its sequel, Hunger, being the newest release. The third book, which will be entitled Lies does not come out until next year.

New Music for Fall!

In my opinion, 2008 was a great year musically speaking. You had new CDs from Addison Road, The Afters, Fireflight, Kutless, Relient K, Superchick, Tenth Avenue North, and Third Day, just to name a few. By comparison, 2009 had been shaping up to be a very boring year. Not any more! Coming out in the next few weeks:

August 25^th – Awake Skillet

September 8^th – Welcome to the Masquerade Thousand Foot Krutch

September 8^th – Love and War BarlowGirl

September 22^nd – Live Life Loud Hawk Nelson

October 6^th – Hello Hurricane Switchfoot

October 6^th – Forget and Not Slow Down Relient K

These are the bands I know about so far, but I hope to hear about a few more new releases (Kutless and Lifehouse ) before the year is out.

Awake – Skillet’s new CD coming August 25th

Hey Skillet fans! Skillet’s new CD, Awake, comes out on August 25^th!   Check out the Skillet website to listen to their new singles “Monster” and “Hero.”

For those of you unfamiliar with Skillet, they are a Christian hard-rock band. Their last CD was a live album called Comatose Comes Alive which was a recording of a concert in Chattanooga Tennessee.  As with most concerts, it was essentially a “Best of” Skillet. It included the songs “Rebirthing,” “Comatose,” “Savior,” “Best Kept Secret,” and a few other hits from their last studio album, Comatose.  The band’s style has changed a lot over the years, starting out with a more subdued rock style to the heavier base almost metal sound today. Their strong Christian messages have stayed the same. “Rebirthing” is essentially the lead singer’s testimony. The new single, “Hero,” talks about needing a hero in God. For anyone interested in hearing a different side of Skillet, check out Ardent Worship, which is a live Praise and Worship album.

Review of the “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” Series

I am really into Greek Mythology. I’ll read any version of the myths that I can get my hands on. Percy Jackson and the Olympians was right up my alley, and while I’ve only been able to get my hands on the first four in the series, (stuck waiting to get far enough up the library request list for the last one) I have enjoyed each book thoroughly.  The series takes place during the present day, but with all the gods and monsters from the old myths. Percy Jackson is a half-blood or demigod; the child of a god and a human.  Over the course of the series, Percy undertakes various quests to fight the Titan Kronos. With the series taking place in the present, there have been some necessary updates. Percy lives in New York, not Greece. The U.S. is now the heart of the west, and thus Mount Olympus has moved here. It’s located on the six hundredth floor of the Empire State Building. On the whole, it’s a very enjoyable series and well worth checking out.

Youth Movie Night

We are looking forward to the first TCS Youth Group Event for the year – the Youth Movie Night in September. Details are still being worked out, so watch the Tower Students Forum for the updates as they become available.

Hello world!

Welcome to the Tower Students Blog. As class members become more adept at working with the Tower Students tools, we will see student postings updating here on a regular basis. Hopefully all interesting in some manner.