13-10-2011, 12:26
online listen
While not a big fan of female fronted metal bands, Amy Lee's powerful vocals just make it work.
Nothing here stands out as being great, but nothing is bad either.
A passing 1.8 grade is better than most of this genre would get from me.
from the album - What You Want
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVWazHTunSI
released Oct 11th, 2011
![[Image: 220px-Evanescence_Album.jpg]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b5/Evanescence_Album.jpg/220px-Evanescence_Album.jpg)
Bio
The goth-inspired Arkansas rock band Evanescence, with its Linkin Park-meets- Tori Amos sound backed by chugging guitars, easily made it to the top of the charts in 2003 with its Wind-Up Entertainment debut album, Fallen. Singer/pianist Amy Lee and guitarist/songwriter Ben Moody formed the band at the end of the '90s after meeting in their early teens during a "youth camp," Moody said in a statement. "I heard Amy playing Meat Loaf's 'I'd Do Anything for Love' at the piano. So I went over to meet her, and she started singing for me. I was pretty much blown away, so I suckered her into joining a band with me."
As a duo, Evanescence didn't perform live, instead opting to release EPs and the full-length Origin. Lee told the BBC that Evanescence was mastering demos in Memphis, TN, when she and the band were discovered by producer Pete Matthews. He shopped the songs to record companies in New York, and Evanescence -- rounded out by bassist Will Boyd, guitarist John LeCompt, and drummer Rocky Gray -- eventually landed a contract with Wind-Up, the home of Creed. The soundtrack to the 2003 Ben Affleck action movie Daredevil brought success to Evanescence; the begging "Bring Me to Life," which appeared on the soundtrack along with the ballad "My Immortal," became a hit. (Paul McCoy, of labelmates 12 Stones, rapped on "Bring Me to Life," which originated as a piano ballad.) The songs proved to be a head start to Evanescence's future hit album Fallen, produced by Dave Fortman (Boy Sets Fire, Superjoint Ritual) and released in March 2003.
Evanescence ran head first into controversy promoting Fallen. Originally, it was released in the Christian and secular markets; however, the band's use of profanity during an interview with Rolling Stone prompted its label, Wind-Up Records, to recall Fallen from Christian stores. Ironically, 12 Stones are also labeled Christian. Fallen surpassed double-platinum status, reaching the Top Ten in the United States, including the Top Contemporary Christian Albums chart, the Top Five in Canada, and number one in the United Kingdom. It spent more than 100 weeks on Billboard's Top 200; Evanescence also managed to pick up two Grammys (Best New Artist and Best Hard Rock Performance) for the 2003 awards.
During a European tour late that same year, however, Moody abruptly left the group over apparent creative differences. Ex-Cold guitarist Terry Balsamo soon replaced him in the band; he clicked with Lee and the two became cohesive songwriting partners who worked to further define Evanescence's classically influenced hard rock identity. The band continued to tour non-stop for the next year, and they issued the live album Anywhere But Home (recorded at a show in Paris) in November 2004 to hold over fans hungry for their follow-up. It also went platinum. More internal band drama ensued -- including Balsamo recovering from a stroke suffered in fall 2005 and Boyd's departure the following summer -- before that album, The Open Door, finally appeared in early October 2006. Tim McCord (ex- the Revolution Smile) joined up in Boyd's place that August, switching from his usual guitar to bass. Spearheaded by the single "Call Me When You're Sober," the album displayed a broader emotional range amid the band's evolving sound. Evanescence played several intimate theater dates immediately following the record's release before moving on to larger arena shows. Their eponymous, third studio album, which was produced by Nick Raskulinecz (Rush, Foo Fighters, Marylin Manson) and was preceded by the soaring first single "What You Want," arrived on October 11, 2011.
Album Review
Difficult births are no stranger to Evanescence. Nothing ever quite seems to come easy for Amy Lee, yet the five years separating Evanescence's 2006 sophomore effort The Open Door and its eponymous 2011 album were relatively quiet, the band undergoing some lineup changes -- not to mention a switch of producers, from Steve Lillywhite to Nick Raskulinecz -- but nothing comparable to the messy departure of Ben Moody between the groupâs first two albums. Such comparative calm is reflected within the grooves of Evanescence, which is less tortured tonally even if it remains quite dramatic. Lee's default mode is to sing to the rafters, her operatic bluster sometimes overbearing when her settings are gloomy, but Raskulinecz pulls off a nifty trick of brightening the murk, retaining all of the churning drama but lessening the oppression by brightening the colors and pushing the melody. While thereâs hardly a danger of Amy Lee removing her thick mascara, sheâs not pouting all the time; thereâs some shade and light here, some variety of tempos, enough to give Evanescence the illusion of warmth, not to mention a fair share of crossover hooks. Itâs aural candy for aging goths and tortured tweens alike.
Track Listing
1. What You Want
2. Made of Stone
3. The Change
4. My Heart Is Broken
5. The Other Side
6. Erase This
7. Lost in Paradise
8. Sick
9. End of the Dream
10. Oceans
11. Never Go Back
12. Swimming Home
While not a big fan of female fronted metal bands, Amy Lee's powerful vocals just make it work.
Nothing here stands out as being great, but nothing is bad either.
A passing 1.8 grade is better than most of this genre would get from me.
from the album - What You Want
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVWazHTunSI
released Oct 11th, 2011
Bio
The goth-inspired Arkansas rock band Evanescence, with its Linkin Park-meets- Tori Amos sound backed by chugging guitars, easily made it to the top of the charts in 2003 with its Wind-Up Entertainment debut album, Fallen. Singer/pianist Amy Lee and guitarist/songwriter Ben Moody formed the band at the end of the '90s after meeting in their early teens during a "youth camp," Moody said in a statement. "I heard Amy playing Meat Loaf's 'I'd Do Anything for Love' at the piano. So I went over to meet her, and she started singing for me. I was pretty much blown away, so I suckered her into joining a band with me."
As a duo, Evanescence didn't perform live, instead opting to release EPs and the full-length Origin. Lee told the BBC that Evanescence was mastering demos in Memphis, TN, when she and the band were discovered by producer Pete Matthews. He shopped the songs to record companies in New York, and Evanescence -- rounded out by bassist Will Boyd, guitarist John LeCompt, and drummer Rocky Gray -- eventually landed a contract with Wind-Up, the home of Creed. The soundtrack to the 2003 Ben Affleck action movie Daredevil brought success to Evanescence; the begging "Bring Me to Life," which appeared on the soundtrack along with the ballad "My Immortal," became a hit. (Paul McCoy, of labelmates 12 Stones, rapped on "Bring Me to Life," which originated as a piano ballad.) The songs proved to be a head start to Evanescence's future hit album Fallen, produced by Dave Fortman (Boy Sets Fire, Superjoint Ritual) and released in March 2003.
Evanescence ran head first into controversy promoting Fallen. Originally, it was released in the Christian and secular markets; however, the band's use of profanity during an interview with Rolling Stone prompted its label, Wind-Up Records, to recall Fallen from Christian stores. Ironically, 12 Stones are also labeled Christian. Fallen surpassed double-platinum status, reaching the Top Ten in the United States, including the Top Contemporary Christian Albums chart, the Top Five in Canada, and number one in the United Kingdom. It spent more than 100 weeks on Billboard's Top 200; Evanescence also managed to pick up two Grammys (Best New Artist and Best Hard Rock Performance) for the 2003 awards.
During a European tour late that same year, however, Moody abruptly left the group over apparent creative differences. Ex-Cold guitarist Terry Balsamo soon replaced him in the band; he clicked with Lee and the two became cohesive songwriting partners who worked to further define Evanescence's classically influenced hard rock identity. The band continued to tour non-stop for the next year, and they issued the live album Anywhere But Home (recorded at a show in Paris) in November 2004 to hold over fans hungry for their follow-up. It also went platinum. More internal band drama ensued -- including Balsamo recovering from a stroke suffered in fall 2005 and Boyd's departure the following summer -- before that album, The Open Door, finally appeared in early October 2006. Tim McCord (ex- the Revolution Smile) joined up in Boyd's place that August, switching from his usual guitar to bass. Spearheaded by the single "Call Me When You're Sober," the album displayed a broader emotional range amid the band's evolving sound. Evanescence played several intimate theater dates immediately following the record's release before moving on to larger arena shows. Their eponymous, third studio album, which was produced by Nick Raskulinecz (Rush, Foo Fighters, Marylin Manson) and was preceded by the soaring first single "What You Want," arrived on October 11, 2011.
Album Review
Difficult births are no stranger to Evanescence. Nothing ever quite seems to come easy for Amy Lee, yet the five years separating Evanescence's 2006 sophomore effort The Open Door and its eponymous 2011 album were relatively quiet, the band undergoing some lineup changes -- not to mention a switch of producers, from Steve Lillywhite to Nick Raskulinecz -- but nothing comparable to the messy departure of Ben Moody between the groupâs first two albums. Such comparative calm is reflected within the grooves of Evanescence, which is less tortured tonally even if it remains quite dramatic. Lee's default mode is to sing to the rafters, her operatic bluster sometimes overbearing when her settings are gloomy, but Raskulinecz pulls off a nifty trick of brightening the murk, retaining all of the churning drama but lessening the oppression by brightening the colors and pushing the melody. While thereâs hardly a danger of Amy Lee removing her thick mascara, sheâs not pouting all the time; thereâs some shade and light here, some variety of tempos, enough to give Evanescence the illusion of warmth, not to mention a fair share of crossover hooks. Itâs aural candy for aging goths and tortured tweens alike.
Track Listing
1. What You Want
2. Made of Stone
3. The Change
4. My Heart Is Broken
5. The Other Side
6. Erase This
7. Lost in Paradise
8. Sick
9. End of the Dream
10. Oceans
11. Never Go Back
12. Swimming Home
