Skillet's New Album RISE Hits No. 1 on iTunes; Band Performing on CONAN 7/11

Two-time Grammy-nominated rock band SKILLET have entered Billboard's Top 200 Album Chart at No. 4 and iTunes Rock Album Chart at No. 1 with new album RISE (Atlantic/Word).

The album's explosive start was fueled by the success of a four-song rollout at iTunes which saw the first two tracks, "Sick Of It" and "American Noise," both hit No. 1 on the iTunes Rock Songs Chart (and at one point, were No. 1 and 2 on the chart), while the third and fourth-released songs, "Rise" and "Not Gonna Die," each shot to No. 2. The band has also been building momentum with radio promotion, a social Media Blitz and festival show performances. The past two weeks Skillet hosted their first ever VIP fan events titled "Road to Rise" in Nashville and Chicago. The Chicago Sun-Times heralded the event stating that it "redefines the VIP experience." In the digital world, the platinum-selling band did an exclusive album stream and podcast premiere with Billboard, video premieres with Revolver and Guitar World and a song premiere with USA Today, to name a few. The high media profiles lead up to the band's late night debut on Conan on July 11.

"Skillet has become increasingly deft at straddling the tricky line between faith-based idealism and secular universality," wrote Billboard. "Rise takes the balance a step further, mixing new sonic flavors into the group's hard-rock bombast." USA Today gave the album 3 out of 4 stars, People praised the band for "taking their hard rock to higher ground," and Loudwire gave Rise 4 out of 5 stars and wrote, "the songwriting has more depth, there's added diversity and plenty of potential hit singles."

Following recent performances at several major festivals, including Rock on the Range and Rocklahoma, Skillet (vocalist/bassist John Cooper, guitarist/keyboardist Korey Cooper, drummer/vocalist Jen Ledger and guitarist Seth Morrison) are gearing up to hit the road with Shinedown on the upcoming Carnival of Madness tour. Kicking off August 13th at the Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica in Cleveland, the tour will also feature Papa Roach, In This Moment and We As Human. They'll follow by heading overseas for their first-ever tour with Nickelback, a month-long jaunt that will see Skillet playing Milan, Paris, Vienna, London, and many more (itinerary below).

CARNIVAL OF MADNESS 2013 TOUR DATES (additional dates to be announced)

DATE		CITY		VENUE
8/13		Cleveland, OH		Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica
8/14		Philadelphia, PA		Mann Center for the Performing Arts
8/16		Canandaigua, NY		Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center
8/17		Cincinnati, OH		PNC Pavilion at Riverbend Music Center
8/18		Bloomington, IL		US Cellular Coliseum
8/20		Burgettstown, PA		First Niagara Pavilion
8/21		Bristow, VA		Jiffy Lube Live
8/23		Tinley Park, IL		First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
8/25		Cedar Rapids, IA		U.S. Cellular Center
8/27		Clarkston, MI		DTE Energy Music Theatre
8/28		Big Flats, NY		Tags
8/30		Charlotte, NC		Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
8/31		Virginia Beach, VA		Farm Bureau Live
9/1		Raleigh, NC		The Red Hat Amphitheater
9/6		Allegan, MI		Allegan County Fair
9/10		Morrison, CO		Red Rocks Amphitheatre
9/14		Sacramento, CA		Discovery Park
10/26		Saint-Herblian, FR		Le Zenith Nantes Metropole
10/29		Milan, Italy		Mediolanum Forum
10/31		Vienna, Austria		Stadthalle
11/2		Warsaw, Poland		Towar
11/4		Berlin, Germany		02 Arena
11/5		Mannheim, Germany		Sap Arena
11/7		Prague, Czech Rep		02 Arena
11/8		Budapest, Hungary		Budapestarenaban
11/10		Zurich, Switzerland		Hallenstadion
11/11		Oberhausen, Germany		Konig Pilsener Arena
11/13		Copenhagen, Denmark		Forum Copenhagen
11/14		Oslo, Norway		Telenor Arena
11/15		Gothenburg, Sweden		Scandinavium
11/18		Amsterdam, Netherlands		Ziggo Dome
11/20		Paris, France		Bercy
11/21		Brussels, Belgium		Forest National
11/23		Liverpool, UK		Echo Arena
11/24		London, UK		O2 Arena
11/26		Glasgow, UK		The Hydro
11/27		Leeds, UK		Leeds Arena

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