YOUNGSTOWN — It worked so well earlier this year that it made perfect sense for Theory of a Deadman and Skillet to co-headline a second leg of their Rock Resurrection Tour. It arrives Friday at Covelli Centre with Saint Asonia opening.

Theory drummer Joey Dandeneau views the tour’s title multiple ways besides bands uniting to prove that rock ‘n’ roll still isn’t dead.

“What we had thought about was, literally, just coming back from the world shutting down and touring came to a massive halt. This was the first opportunity for us to say, ‘Rock tours are coming back.’ It was more of a resurrection of touring as opposed to just being that we’re both rock bands.”

He admitted that “it did tie into (Skillet) being a religious band. It didn’t hurt them, by any means. So, when we came to them saying, ‘This is what we think of naming the tour,’ John Cooper from Skillet was like, ‘I think it’s great. Let’s go with it!’ So, everybody was in agreement that that was an all-encompassing reason why we call it the Rock Resurrection Tour.”

Dandeneau noted that the tour has worked out so well because it pulls from two different audiences who get to experience the main acts for one evening.

Continuing with that theme, Theory resurrects its hard-rocking ways on its latest and eighth album, “Dinosaur.” Theory’s previous two albums — “Wake Up Call” and “Say Nothing” — marked a departure from the quartet’s signature post-grunge style and relied less on power chords and more on textures and pop hooks. The different side of the band surprised some older fans, but expanded its audience, and revealed that Theory has much more to offer musically.

Showing a strong grasp of melodic hooks and guitar riffs that can fill arenas to the very last rows, the title track of “Dinosaur” immediately announces a return to form while the lyrics tackle the lack of effort dealing with climate change.

“That’s always been us. That’s where we started. We’re a rock band but just like anything in life, you go through changes. Creatively as a band, we were changing too. We had this urge that we wanted to write something different and a bit more serious and touch upon messages and situations that we never did before. In order to activate that, we needed to change the sonics of our music, too.”

Dandeneau doesn’t regret the break from the group’s past since the single “RX (Medicate),” which addressed prescription drug abuse, off the 2017 album “Wake Up Call” resulted in the biggest hit of the group’s career.

While much of “Dinosaur” follows an in-your-face hard rocking approach, the last three songs — “Head in the Clouds,” “Hearts Too Wild” and “Summer Song” — return to the stylistic tendencies of Theory’s last two releases.

“That’s us. It wasn’t some weird little fling thing that we decided to do, and then we’re never going to touch upon it (again). That’s who we are. We can now incorporate both. ‘Dinosaur’ (the album) was a good mash of both of those,” Dandeneau said.

Growing up in British Columbia, Tyler Connolly, lead vocals and guitar; Dave Brenner, guitar and backing vocals; Dean Back, bass; and Dandeneau developed their sound during basement jam sessions. A fortunate meeting with Chad Kroeger of Nickelback led to signing to his record label, which released Theory of a Deadman’s 2002 self-titled album. Dandeneau joined soon after the release of 2008’s double-platinum breakthrough album “Scars & Souvenirs.”

While initially compared to Kroeger’s band, Theory quickly made strides creatively to cause critics to reevaluate the band, particularly with the success of “RX (Medicate),” which received a nomination for “Rock Song of the Year” at the iHeartRadio Music Awards and the award-winning band’s 2020 album “Say Nothing,” which featured the chart-topping single “History of Violence,” which dealt with domestic abuse.

Theory continues to branch out in new directions with the release last month of “Missing You This Christmas.” Recorded last summer, the band embraced the idea by its label to record a holiday track on the condition that the band provides an original tune.

“We wrote this on the spot. It’s something fun for the holidays.”

Despite stores currently playing holiday tunes and decorations already up, Dandeneau said that fans shouldn’t expect to hear the track in Youngstown.

“I hope we play it, and if we do, it probably won’t be till near the end of the tour because that’s in the first week of December.”

If you go …

WHO: Skillet, Theory of a Deadman and Saint Asonia

WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday

WHERE: Covelli Centre, 229 E. Front St., Youngstown

HOW MUCH: Tickets are $59.50 and $49.50 and are available at the Southwoods Health box office and through Ticketmaster.