Post by Josh McLaughlin on Oct 10, 2011 0:02:15 GMT -5
Evanescence
"Evanescence"
Produced by Nick Raskulinecz
Released October 2011
After a five year wait, Evanescence are back with their brand spankin' new self-titled album! Amy Lee and co have been hard at work over the last year or two working on it, but does it live up to the expectations fans have had after such a long break?
The album opens with "What You Want"; an undeniably infectious tune that has you singing along by the second verse. Amy Lee sounds fantastic, and the instruments are tight. It has a standard hard rock sound, seemingly moving further away from the gothic aspects their debut album "Fallen" had. It's a strong open to the album; both rocking and melodic, featuring all the keys and strings we've come to love from the band. "Made of Stone" kicks straight into a rocking guitar-driven riff, with underlying keys that give it a darker mood. The song isn't a catchy, and is likely one that will grow with repeated listening, but it's still a very solid track.
"The Change" is the third song on the album; and opens differently to the first two. It holds back the rock with spacious instrumentals building up, crescendoing to the awesome chorus filled with catchy "ooooohs". The next song, "My Heart is Broken" also starts out soft and revolves around orchestral aspects. The rock kicks back in, once again for the chorus. The lyrics are especially dark and well-written in this song, with cries of "sweet, sleep, my dark angel". A great track.
"The Other Side" has a metal feel with heavy, low guitar riffs and drums being in the forefront. Having said that, the vocals are very melodic in the chorus, and the overall feel of the song is a positive one, rather than dark. Just when I was feeling as if the songs were beginning to get a little stale and repetetive, "Erase This" opens with great charisma and optimism that erases such thoughts (pun intended). The song builds up well and seems quite lively, with lots of focus put on pianos and strings.
"Lost in Paradise" is a ghostly ballad that strips back the band to just Amy Lee and her piano. This song highlights how amazing a musician and singer she is. The band enters after the first chorus to pick the mood up, which really gives an added punch to an already great song. This is definitely the highlight from the album so far. After a slow fadeout finish, "Sick" kicks in with a melodic and dark guitar riff, accented by stampeding bass and drums that resemble a war march. The chorus is catchy, if slightly generic. "End of the Dream" opens with another rocking instrumental section, making me feel as if this album would have had more variety and "breaks" had more of the songs had orchestral intros to build into the rocky areas. The vocals are catchy, and her pitch reaches incredible heights in some areas.
The following song, "Oceans" is very vocally driven, like much of the album. I think the reason I feel that "The Open Door" and this self-titled release fail to live up to "Fallen" is because it, much like Guns 'n' Roses in recent times, is beginning to feel less like a band effort and more of a glorified solo release for Amy Lee. The song has a early Linkin Park feel with the instrumentals, but kicks back into full Evanescence glory for the chorus. The guitar and string work in the bridge are phenomenal. "Swimming Home" starts off with a very poppy vocal line with gentle instruments highlighting it. The song has a spacey, welcoming aura to it that brings closure to the album extremely well.
In all, the album is good, yet in many ways generic and underwhelming. There are a handful of very good songs, such as "What You Want", "Swimming Home" and "My Heart is Broken", but apart from that, the album sits contemply on a "good" level rather than pushing to become something great. It's a solid listen, for sure, but still comes no where near their past greatness seen in songs such as "Everybody's Fool", "Bring Me to Life" and even more recent ones like "Snow White Queen". A solid effort.
7/10
