Evanescence - Evanescence (13/10/2011)
It was what seemed like an eternity ago when American rock band Evanescence released their second studio album titled ‘The Open Door’. Several years later the band are back with a recently released record that is not only strong, but continues pleasing fans left right and center.
The self-titled album opens up with current single, ‘What You Want’. The song shows some of the similar sounds that Evanescence are well known for. The song is described to be about freedom. It’s upbeat and incorporates drums, guitars and a noticeable synthesizer.
‘Made of Stone’ opens with a heavier sound compared to the first track. The drums portray a beat that works perfectly with the speed of the song. The lyrics ‘Don’t want to play your game anymore, no matter what you say, I’m all out of love for you baby’ are another indication of a troublesome relationship, which is portrayed nicely whilst competing with the perfect tones of the song.
‘The Change’ uses lead singer Amy Lee’s vocals softly, and then works up to a big verse, which is accompanied with harmonising, which is never a bad thing, while a piano opens the next track, titled ‘My Heart Is Broken’. Lee’s vocals remain strong as she sings about her feelings.
‘The Other Side’ has a slow drum beat to begin, while it’s lyrics about freedom are both emotive and a serious cliché for the band.
‘Erase This’ sounds a lot happier than the preceding tracks. It’s faster than the previous song and uses a synthesizer. As described by Amy Lee, one of the album themes on this record would be about the ocean. We see this through the lyric ‘The water’s rising around us, there is no other way down’.
The latter half of the album is a mixed bag. ‘Lost In Paradise’ is slow, and the piano is no help to the emotion factor while ‘Sick’ and ‘End of the Dream’ are nice tracks but don’t highlight the record. ‘Oceans’ is sweet compared to the rest of the album, but it still has its own sinister undertones.
As the album draws to a conclusion ‘Never Go Back’ reveals a much angrier sound to the record, but this far in, does it really work?. Along with ‘Swimming Home’ it is juxtaposed with some swell guitar/bass work, tempo is a little faster and the lyrics show more insight to the themes of the album. ‘The only world I’ve ever known sleeps beneath the waves, but I remember’.
Evanescence have worked very hard on this album in every aspect, you can see that through every lyric and every musical note on the album. Yet the album lacks something that previous releases have had, a spark of gothic rock opera captured perfectly on Fallen. It certainly is a solid album, but it is not their best work which really says something about all the wasted potential.
Damien Colella
The self-titled album opens up with current single, ‘What You Want’. The song shows some of the similar sounds that Evanescence are well known for. The song is described to be about freedom. It’s upbeat and incorporates drums, guitars and a noticeable synthesizer.
‘Made of Stone’ opens with a heavier sound compared to the first track. The drums portray a beat that works perfectly with the speed of the song. The lyrics ‘Don’t want to play your game anymore, no matter what you say, I’m all out of love for you baby’ are another indication of a troublesome relationship, which is portrayed nicely whilst competing with the perfect tones of the song.
‘The Change’ uses lead singer Amy Lee’s vocals softly, and then works up to a big verse, which is accompanied with harmonising, which is never a bad thing, while a piano opens the next track, titled ‘My Heart Is Broken’. Lee’s vocals remain strong as she sings about her feelings.
‘The Other Side’ has a slow drum beat to begin, while it’s lyrics about freedom are both emotive and a serious cliché for the band.
‘Erase This’ sounds a lot happier than the preceding tracks. It’s faster than the previous song and uses a synthesizer. As described by Amy Lee, one of the album themes on this record would be about the ocean. We see this through the lyric ‘The water’s rising around us, there is no other way down’.
The latter half of the album is a mixed bag. ‘Lost In Paradise’ is slow, and the piano is no help to the emotion factor while ‘Sick’ and ‘End of the Dream’ are nice tracks but don’t highlight the record. ‘Oceans’ is sweet compared to the rest of the album, but it still has its own sinister undertones.
As the album draws to a conclusion ‘Never Go Back’ reveals a much angrier sound to the record, but this far in, does it really work?. Along with ‘Swimming Home’ it is juxtaposed with some swell guitar/bass work, tempo is a little faster and the lyrics show more insight to the themes of the album. ‘The only world I’ve ever known sleeps beneath the waves, but I remember’.
Evanescence have worked very hard on this album in every aspect, you can see that through every lyric and every musical note on the album. Yet the album lacks something that previous releases have had, a spark of gothic rock opera captured perfectly on Fallen. It certainly is a solid album, but it is not their best work which really says something about all the wasted potential.
Damien Colella