Evanescence - The Open Door
The Open Door cover, picturing Amy Lee.
Evanescence originally came to fame in 2003 with brilliant gothic master pieces such as Bring Me To Life, Going Under and My Immortal. The Open Door although very different from it’s predecessor Fallen still maintains the brilliant chugging guitars, piano driven rock, haunting lyrics and of course Amy Lee’s angelic voice.
Despite the lost of two of the key song writers Ben Moody and David Hodges, Amy Lee has taken over the reins (along with Terry Balsamo) with grace creating a more personal and flawless album than the last.
This album is very much (as it has been hailed as) ‘The Amy Lee Show’ from majority of songs about her personal experiences to her alone adorning the cover (once again) to her overpoweringly superb vocal skills. The concept of having one leader of a band in which so many have struggled with works brilliantly for Evanescence and Amy.
The lead single from the Album Call Me When Your Sober tells the tale of her very public and very troublesome relationship with Seether front man Shaun Morgan. The emotion she puts into her voice is something that is sadly lacking in a lot of rock music at present and it is that that passion that has helped the band pull through line-up changes and an unofficial split.
For fans for what is commonly yet incorrectly believed to be their first album Fallen (it is actually their second) Lose Control will hold a familiar scent. As lyrics from the heavy and haunting Taking Over Me are echoed ever so discretely, almost as a reply to the original song. “You don’t remember my name, I don’t really care.
More melodically and lyrically advanced, this album holds a change with every new track, though still manages to fit together seamlessly. From the heavy guitar choruses mixed with Amy’s holy lament in the verses, All That I’m Living For is the ‘classic Evanescence’. Whilst the demand and haunting power of Snow White Queen (written about her recent experiences with stalkers) shows us the development of both Amy’s voice and the band as a whole.
The newest album holds the one thing Evanescence has previously lacked, they have always been so down, ‘me against the world and I can’t do it’ types, on The Open Door they show more of a ‘this is me, deal with it’ attitude. There is a lot of hope, a lot of looking to the future, a lot of forgetting “your name” of which I am going to assume means anyone one who lives ”to break me”.
An incredible follow up, though perhaps ‘follow up’ is no the accurate word, given the decidedly appreciable changes The Open Door is a must have. Once again we must bow down to the Queen of gothic rock and her knights.
