Skillet Previews Latest Album ‘Rise’ [VIDEO]

Tomorrow, June 25, Skillet will release their ninth studio album, Rise and according to frontman John Cooper, the album was never meant to become a concept album, but that's exactly what happened. Cooper said after writing 70 songs and working that number down to a more manageable amount, he realized that was the direction the album was going in. According to Cooper, "We kind of got it together and we chose 15 songs, started recording, and it just became very clear that the record was telling a story, and there were definite threads going through the album and I knew that. I knew there was some powerful imagery and messages, but all of a sudden it just kind of became clear and I asked, you know, my wife -- who plays in the band -- I said, 'Should we be making a concept record? This is telling a story and I think it could be pretty powerful."

Rise is the ninth studio album from the Christian rock group and will follow 2009's Awake, which debuted at number 2 on the Billboard charts and featured the singles "Awake and Alive," and "Monster." Skillet was also one of only three rock bands(Mumford and Son and The Black Keys being the other two)  to go platinum in 2012 thanks to Awake selling 1.1 million copies.

Rise will be available in stores tomorrow, but if you just can't wait, check out the album Q&A below. The video features several songs from the album and the band's thoughts on them as well as some of the animation that you can expect to see at their live shows. Cooper told Billboard that the album is "about your typical American teenager . . . he's faced by the horrors that we see every day: floods, bombings, earthquakes, school shootings. He's also faced with his own problems from his family life. The record has a lot of ups and downs, all leading to this salvation experience."

Skillet will set off on the Carnival of Madness tour in support of their new album alongside Shinedown and Papa Roach on August 13 in Cleveland.