Evanescence Effectuate Operatic Phantasma Fantastique

Hello, Hello. Remember Me.

Hello, I am your mind giving you someone to talk to

A singular piece of music or, in some cases, an album of music has the ability to take each of us to a certain sacred place.

When Evanescence Fallen debuted in 2003, I, like many others, initially heard the songs "Going Under," "Bring Me To Life" and "Everybody's Fool" and admired the fact that there was a fresh distinct voice in rock.

However, a few years after its release, turbulent times paved my yellow brick road red and parts of my life had fallen. The entire Fallen album was, at times, a pseudo lifeline for the better part of a year. I didn't really want to listen to much else.

It wasn't just the lyrics but the confluence of dramatic Gothic majesty enveloping Classical phrasing underscoring fragile emotion. It connected with my psyche in a way that few pieces of music have and, consequently, bounces up and down within my Top 3 albums of all time.

It's been five years since the open door of my Fallen time and The Open Door of the recorded kind. This new opus marks only the third studio album in 8 years though at 24 million records sold-to-date, continuing demand seems to border on omnipotence.

By self-titling, it seems like a conscious nod to position "Evanescence" as a "band" which has continued to experience changes since the parting of co-founder Ben Moody, whom I personally found to be a good musical counterpoint to singer Amy Lee.

For all practical purposes, regardless of name, it will now always be Amy's artistic vehicle much like Paramore, without two of its founding members, will forever be an all-terrain vehicle for Ms. Hayley Williams.

2 B or not 2 B. You better you bet.

Even though Fallen is deeply ingrained in my subconscious, I wanted to absorb the new material on its own merits and give it the requisite chance it deserves so I have listened to it dozens of times over the past two weeks...though I did get sidetracked for a full day with the discovery for the first time of the band's 2000 album ORIGIN.

Looming especially tall was the song "Lies" which made me realize that I would be stoked to hear Amy Lee do an album of all Gothic Gregorian Chants.

EVANESCENCE is a punctilious orchestration of a preordinate vestibule. It is NOT a one listen record for its layers only slowly slither away from the sum.

The record in its totality on a sonic, artistic, emotional and psychological level pantomimes the word "Evanescence". Words hardly do justice to the essence of Evanescence so the unstated concept of this musical chapter becomes part of the descriptor.

Perhaps The Open Door was really just that. A open gateway to Evanescence forevermore.

Or, perhaps, a Secret Door to Evanescence forevermore...

Perhaps this new collection of meticulous opulence is the open door to future theatrical transference with Amy "Lloyd Weber" Lee perpetuating phantom control as Evanescence effectuate le phantom de l' operatic fantastique!

Without further ado marred by residual residue...

WHAT YOU WANT - Debut single/video is stacked with big beat confidence, plenty of reverb and is exactly what you want. A welcome home.

MADE OF STONE - Mid-tempo modern rock with the obligatory dissonant single note piano plunking. Taut and tense, it's "Now or Never" and when Ms Lee launches her voice into the stratosphere in the breakdown, the pleasure is all now and how.

THE CHANGE - Big bold chorus with its anthemic "I've been screaming on the inside, and I know you feel the pain. Can you hear me? Can you hear me?" is sure to become a live show favorite.

MY HEART IS BROKEN - Just the title alone alludes to the fact that this epic sweeping track is ALL money ALL the time though as much as I admire the grand production, for my money I'd like to hear a stripped down solo piano version to match the emotion of a broken heart.

In its current form, MHIB opens with a Yanni-infused piano melody that repeats amidst heavy layers of distortion which makes me daydream about seeing Amy Lee Live at the Acropolis; A Requiem for Solo Piano accompanied by Gothic Gregorian Chants...FTW!

THE OTHER SIDE - Staccato muted chords frame this Stomp and Circumstance about reuniting on the other side, be it love or life itself. Nice mono vocal in the breakdown whereby it sounds like Amy is getting emo right in your ear. If, at first, it sounds like she is doing so into your left ear, turn around and hear her on the other side.

Evanescence - Erase This

ERASE THIS - The Jack-The-Ripper lead guitar riff reminds me of Queensrÿche Operation Mindcrime. It's urgent and makes me feel like I'm on the run from the eyes of a stranger. "Is it so hard for you?" is this song's rallying cry. Really lovely string arrangements set against an ascending piano melody. Do not erase this. Play this. And then play it again.

LOST IN PARADISE - I was running so hard and so fast and for so long that now I'm lost in paradise...the paradise of a magnificent new Evanescence record. Yes, LIP is gut-check ballad numero dos.

It's gargantuan refrain of "I have nothing left. And all I feel is this cruel wanting. We've been falling for all this time. And now I'm lost in paradise" sounds like Grammy numero tres is ready for Lee's mantle.

If this were an LP, this would be a good place to end side one, so let's take a visual break...because I know it's WHAT YOU WANT:



SICK - One of the strongest cuts. It's sick bi-laterally chorus of "Sick of it all, Sick of it all. They don’t understand how, Sick we are, Sick we are" has a unique effervescent alliteration to it.

The flowing enunciated roll of "Sick we are" makes me think of the word "Sequitur" (Latin for "it does follow") which makes me think the phrasing is a brilliant yet deliberate use of Onomonopia. Ms. Lee did win the 2004 Grammy for 'Best New Artist' for a reason. I keep a pictionary handy for non sequitur reasoning.

END OF THE DREAM - Another mid-tempo straight-forward rocker with a heavy bottom end sway that gives this track a bump and grind kind of like a wild safari ride.

OCEANS - Not sure of the genesis of "Oceans" but it sounds like it could be a holdover from the early days as its classical structure and haunting choral backdrop make it sound like distant kin to Fallen-era tracks. It's vast and deep and dark and tasty...kind of like salt-water taffy. This track of tasty taffy is mighty delectable.

NEVER GO BACK - Another blast of fast and furious riffage kickstarts this track but it quickly fades into the wall of sound that Evanescence is seemingly known for. Conscious construct or not, this fact brings to life one of the things that I feel is missing from Evanescence. Melodic guitar solos (there is one in "Made of Stone"). While a small part of an overall record, the guitar solos in seminal songs like "Going Under" & "Haunted" are significant and memorable.

Also once again, the theme of being "lost" re-surfaces. In this case, one is "lost" and can never go back home again...and perhaps, never go back to fallen again.

SWIMMING HOME - A floating and airy excusrion that reminds me of the magnificent pairing of Julee Cruise (whom ironically is most well known for a song called "Falling") and Angelo Badalamenti for the music to David Lynch's Twin Peaks.

Amy sounds like Sarah McLachlan at times and makes me want to hear her go solo in hopes of creating Fallen Towards Ecstasy part deux.

How can you see into my eyes like open doors?

NEW WAY TO BLEED - This evidentiary slice of selfless-discovery begins with a swirl of soaring vocals before settling into a cascading march of thrones bound by temperance. A glorious new way to bleed.

SAY YOU WILL - 21 Air Guitar salute empties all barrels. The fuselage of the opening riff sounds like Metallica's version of Budgie's "Breadfan". This nitrous riffage is counter-balanced by a dissonant piano melody leading up to a vocal tour-du-force chorus that finds Lee emulating more of a standard power rock voice. Take that Karaokers.

DISAPPEAR - Fat meaty chunks of power chords burst forth. Originally titled "Release the Kraken" (which refer to legendary sea monsters of giant proportions said to have dwelt off the coasts of Norway and Iceland), "Disappear" does anything but as it packs a wallop in the chorus as Amy belts out "Don't you want to feel? Don't you want to live your life?"

Yes, I do. Please show me the secret door...

SECRET DOOR - A lush exquisite lullaby that sounds like a mystical enchantress imagined the score of a future Tim Burton Mid-Winter's Tale; layered in the delicate breath of a guardian Angel and gingerly paved the yellow brick Lacrymosa in our minds.

It portends the eternal essence of Evanescence...

After one has Fallen, shall one pass thru The Open Door or The Secret Door...

I know the truth now, I know who you are

I will remember how to fly

EVANESCENCE
EVANESCENCE
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
13. New Way To Bleed
14. Say You Will
15. Disappear
16. Secret Door

EVANESCENCE
TOUR DATES
Oct 06: San Juan, PR, Coliseo de Puerto Rico Jose Miguel Agrelot
Oct 10: Oakland, CA, Fox Theatre(w/ The Pretty Reckless)
Oct 11: Los Angeles, CA, Palladium (w/ The Pretty Reckless)
Oct 14: Phoenix, AZ, Comerica Theatre (w/ The Pretty Reckless)
Oct 19: Dallas, TX, Palladium (w/ The Pretty Reckless)
Oct 21: Milwaukee, WI, The Eagles Ballroom (w/ The Pretty Reckless)
Oct 22: Chicago, IL, Congress Theatre (w/ The Pretty Reckless)
Oct 24: Detroit, MI, Royal Oak Music Theatre (w/ The Pretty Reckless)
Oct 25: Toronto, ON, The Sound Academy (w/ The Pretty Reckless)
Oct 27: Montreal, ON, Metropolis (w/ The Pretty Reckless)
Oct 28: Boston, MA, Palladium (w/ The Pretty Reckless)
Oct 30: Atlantic City, NJ, House of Blues Showboat (w/ The Pretty Reckless)
Nov 01: New York, NY, Terminal 5 (w/ The Pretty Reckless)
Nov 04: London, ENG, HMV Hammersmith Apollo (w/ The Pretty Reckless)
Nov 05: London, ENG, HMV Hammersmith Apollo (w/ The Pretty Reckless)
Nov 07: Manchester, ENG, Apollo (w/ The Pretty Reckless)
Nov 08: Glasgow, SCO, O2 Academy (w/ The Pretty Reckless)
Nov 10: Plymouth, ENG Pavilions (w/ The Pretty Reckless)
Nov 12: Leeds, ENG, O2 Academy (w/ The Pretty Reckless)
Nov 13: Birmingham, ENG, O2 Academy (w/ The Pretty Reckless)

EVANESCENCE.COM