Release the Panic

Release the Panic debuted on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart at No. 7, with first week sales of around 41,000.[6] The debut position is five spots lower than the band's previous release, Until We Have Faces, which debuted at No. 2 in February 2011. It sold fewer than roughly 1,000 copies less than the previous release, or 1.77% lower sales.

As of April 10, 2013, the album has sold over 100,000 copies in the U.S.[7]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
About.com	[8]
AllMusic	[1]
CCM Magazine	[9]
Cross Rhythms	[10]
Evigshed Magazine	[11]
HM	[12]
Indie Vision Music	[13]
Jesus Freak Hideout	[3] [14]
New Release Tuesday	[15]
The Phantom Tollbooth	[16]
Worship Leader	[17]

The album has achieved generally favorable reviews from the ten reviews that have been written. Release the Panic has garnered positive reviews from the following publications: About.com, AllMusic, CCM Magazine, Christian Music Review, Cross Rhythms, Evigshed Magazine, Jesus Freak Hideout's Bert Gangl and Kevin Hoskins, New Release Tuesday and Worship Leader. However, the album has received one mixed review from Indie Vision Music.

The most glowing review was a five-star perfect rating from Kevin Davis of New Release Tuesday, which he evoked how "RED’s fourth project Release the Panic, has knocked it out of the park with their best overall album. I’m truly a fan of this band and I can’t get enough of their emotive hard rock. Even if you don’t normally listen to hard rock albums, the artistic nature of these songs draws you in and elicits an emotional response. The messages throughout many of the songs are very positive and although RED has had mainstream success, I don’t question the spiritual seeking nature of the lyrics, which are naturally much more Christ-centered than mainstream metal bands like Linkin Park that many have accurately compared to RED."[15] The second five-star perfect rating came from Evigshed Magazine, who highlighted the album as "a heavy rock album mixed with many industrial sounds and pop elements".[11]

The album got three four-star reviews from About.com, CCM Magazine and Worship Leader.[9][17] About.com's Kim Jones wrote that "bottom line" is that "RED rocks it hard, eases up a bit and rocks it soft and then goes for fun with remixes of songs from past hit albums. The diversity is there, every where you turn as is the message. No need to panic folks"[8] Matt Conner of CCM Magazine affirmed that "Release the Panic lives up to the hype. The band worked with super-producer Howard Benson to craft an explosive package that's both intense yet insightful."[9] In addition, Worship Leader's Darryl Bryant found that "Release the Panic is unapologetically Metal Rock and having interviewed many teenagers and youth leaders, this CD hits them right between the eyes and challenges the listener to look deeply at the world they live in and make sense of it."[17] Bryant wrote that "After first blush, Release the Panic is not just a statement but also an indictment on the sinner and complacent alike."[17] Christian Music Review's April Covington rated the album 3.7-out-of-five, and vowed that "Release the Panic is an amazing album that satisfies."[18]

Release the Panic got three three-and-a-half-stars-out-of-five from AllMusic, both of the Jesus Freak Hideout reviews and The Phantom Tollbooth.[1][3][14] First, AllMusic's Steve Leggett illustrated how the "Mixing a post-grunge sound, complete with a slight metal edge, and a radio-ready studio sheen, Red play songs that, although they're often filled with confusion, despair, and anger, are also ultimately positive and redemptive".[1] In addition, Leggett alluded to how the album "doesn't mess with the formula very much, and if they sound like Linkin Park, say, or Chevelle, that firm faith in hope and redemption gives the band a kind of spiritual warmth not always apparent at first listen."[1] Jesus Freak Hideout's Bert Gangl called the album a "bi-polar approach", but did proclaim that "Release the Panic nevertheless earns its creators high marks for their willingness to shake up the established order a bit. More importantly, though, its stronger entries offer convincing hints that the group's next release may well turn out to be its defining work."[3] Kevin Hoskins delivered the second opinion for the publication, and noted how "There's nothing new here as the Release the Panic keeps pace with exactly what Red has been known for, and while that music is good, it again fails to live up to the aforementioned hype."[14] Moreover, Hoskins portends that "Release the Panic will probably be known as one of the better rock albums of 2013, but likely will not land a spot on many greatest albums lists."[14] Also Gangl wrote an entirely different review for The Phantom Tollbooth, and found that "Dyed-in-the-wool metal heads will probably view Panic’s ballads with the same contempt they heaped upon the better part of the Faces record. And, truth be told, the softer offerings on Panic, thanks to their sometimes overly generic character, sail wide of the mark as often as they hit it. In the same way, even on the most infectiously catchy tunes, the band's lyrics are often similarly undistinguished. Taken in the context of the release as a whole, though, the duff balladry is kept to a pleasantly bare minimum. And the groove-intensive nature of the mostly impressive heavier fare easily offsets the better portion of its word-related shortfalls."[16] Cross Rhythms' Tony Cummings rated the album seven-stars-out-of-ten, and called found that the release "contains some excellent cuts."[10]

However, the album has received two mixed reviews from HM and Indie Vision Music, and those are three-star ratings out of five. At HM, Kim Flanders evoked that the "production is over-polished", yet "this release is perhaps a step up musically from previous deliveries."[12] Indie Vision Music's Lee Brown on the deluxe edition surmised that "Release the Panic is neither a masterpiece, nor is it deplorable...Release the Panic has some really solid moments."[13]