Skillet Copies Three Days Grace?

I am a pretty hardcore fan of Three Days Grace. I heard of them through a friend and fell in love with their music; Never Too Late helped me through one of the hardest times in my life. I plan on getting “it’s not too late, it’s never too late” tattooed on my ribcage, but besides that, I love them and their music. It would be amazing to see them live.

One X is my favorite album, a lot of the stuff on that album Adam wrote while he was in rehab for his drug addiction. I used to have an addiction. Slicing my skin open with a blade for an emotional release. My favorite songs off that album are “Pain,” “Riot,” “One X,” “Time of Dying,” “Never Too Late” and “Animal I Have Become.”

Not too long ago, I discovered the band Skillet while listening to the Black Veil Brides Pandora radio station. I really like them and their sound, so when I was at Target looking through the CD’s and saw their album Awake; I just had to buy it. The song Monster is the second track. Upon hearing it, I couldn't help think of Animal I Have Become. The lyrics were very similar.

Animal I Have Become starts out as “I can’t escape this hell/ so many times I tried/but it’s still caged inside/somebody get me through this nightmare/I can’t control myself”

Monster starts out with “the secret side of me/I’d never let you see/I keep it caged I but can’t control it/so stay away from me/the beast is ugly/I feel the rage/and I can’t control it/it’s written on the walls/in the closet/in the halls/it comes awake and I can’t control it/hiding under the bed/in my body/in my head/why won’t somebody come and save me from this/make it end”

It may not be too similar but I still can see connections. Adam talks about going through Hell and he can’t escape while Skillet singer, John Cooper talks about not being able to control himself and it’s his dark side. There are similar lines. “I keep it caged by I can’t control it,” “it comes awake and I can’t control it” and “I can’t control myself,” then “why won’t somebody come and save me from this” and “somebody get me through this nightmare”

Now, going into the chorus, Animal I Have Become goes “so what if you can see/the darker side of me/no one will ever change this animal I have become/help me believe/it’s not the real me/somebody help me tame this animal/this animal/this animal,”

Monster goes “I feel it deep within/it’s just beneath the skin/I must confess that I feel like a monster/I hate what I become/the nightmares just begun/I must confess that I feel like a monster/I, I, I feel like a monster/I, I, I feel like a monster

This isn’t as similar as the first verse, but I still see connections. “This animal, this animal” and “I, I, I feel like a monster/I, I, I feel like a monster” “I hate what I become” and “no one will ever change this animal I have become”

Next verse

“I can’t escape myself/so many times I tried/but there’s still rage inside/somebody get me through this nightmare/I can’t control myself”

And “my secret side of me/I keep it under lock and key/I keep it caged/but I can’t control it/cause if I let it out/it’ll tear me up/break me down/why won’t somebody save me from it/make it end”

More similar lines, they both start out nearly like the first verse, Adam is trying to hide being an animal while John does mention it being “secret side of me” and that “it’ll tear me up/break me down” but both want “somebody to get me through this nightmare” or “somebody save me from it”.

Now, going into the third verse, Three Days Grace doesn’t really have one, “somebody help me though this nightmare/I can’t control myself/somebody wake me from  this nightmare/this animal/this animal, this animal/ this animal”

And Monster goes “its hiding in the dark/its teeth are razor sharp/there is no escape from me/it wants my soul/it wants my heart/ no one can hear me scream/maybe it’s just a dream/or maybe its inside of me/ stop this monster”

Not that similar, but Monster talks about it being a dream while Animal I Have Become talks about it being a nightmare but both are asking for help.

Now when it comes to the music, there are also similarities.

Animal I Have Become starts out with one instrument, then adds a guitar and then another. Monster starts out with one guitar, and then adds the drums and when John starts to sing, another guitar is added. I don’t know much about music. I can only play Mockingbird by Eminem on the piano and Remembering Sunday by All Time Low of the guitar and got a C+ in Music Lab at my school but I think the music parts are pretty similar. I think the progression of the sound is similar though.

The last thing I am going to look at is the music videos. Animal I Have Become starts out with the band playing and flashes to Adam in his room lying in his bed before getting up and looking in the mirror and getting dressed and going onto the streets of Toronto. His reflection in the windows is a monster with piercing red eyes. He continues to walk and bumps into people but keeps going. And doesn’t look back. His next reflection looks like a demon version of him. Next he is in a bar and bumps into more people before reaching a table and putting his head down and attractive women comes over and puts her hand on his back to see if he is ok, he looks up at her and she then has a demonic face. Adam then flips out and wakes up in his room which is trashed. When not following Adam’s story, you see the band performing in a room with red walls.

Monster starts with John strapped to a gurney with a bandage wrapped around his head but one eye is not covered. Doctors are around him watching and trying to sedate him and keep him down, but John is able to break free and rip the bandages off his face. Then you see John’s wife and bands rhythm guitarist, Korey being pronounced dead and a sheet being put over her face. Her eyes then open and she shoves the sheet off of her and jumps up. The doctor calls for assistance and you next see her and John running through the halls of the hospital being chased by SWAT.

Although the videos don’t match, a lot of the lyrics do. So is it safe to ask, did Skillet copy Three Days Grace, or is it a coincidence that the songs are very alike?