March 4, 2003 - Evanescence and Fallen

Four days after my last release a new band joins my library when Evanescence released their debut album "Fallen" on March 4, 2003. But who is Evanescence? They are from Little Rock, Arkansas and, well, there's only two official members: guitarist Ben Moody and lead singer Amy Lee. Also on the album but not credited as members are keyboardist David Hodges, bassist Francesco DiCosmo and the drums are actually done by Josh Freese from A Perfect Circle! That is unexpected and pretty cool! Evanescence are an alternative rock band that blends symphonic elements, pop and nu-metal and this album made them instant superstars with four singles, two of which topped the charts! Let's see what Evanescence are all about!

The first four songs are the four singles, and the album begins with "Going Under" as Moody plays a decently heavy stop-and-start guitar riff that is pretty catchy and Lee sings her first verse, starting fairly low, but quickly showing off her high notes as she holds a couple as things move into the chorus. The chorus is pretty catchy as well with Lee holding lots of long notes and Moody driving things with some simple but decent guitars. It's hard not to get into this uber-catchy song and Hodges plays some cool piano in the verses as well, but it's Lee's smooth and solid vocals that definitely carry things. Moody delivers a short but very epic guitar solo, then Lee takes over again and takes us nicely to the finish. A pretty good intro into what Evanescence are all about! Up next is probably their biggest song, the chart-topping "Bring Me To Life", featuring Paul McCoy of the band 12 Stones. Hodges kicks things off with some epic light piano, Lee enters with her high, smooth voice and Moody and the rhythm section nicely finish things off with another simple but pretty catchy riff. They nicely quiet down before firing into the chorus and McCoy provides the rap-esque backing vocals while Lee nicely belts out the chorus and together things do sound pretty solid and undeniably catchy. After another catchy round Lee sets up a new part with a short new verse, then McCoy comes in and the two work off each other pretty nicely in this pretty cool part that leads perfectly back into the catchy chorus for a final go through. Lee holds a nice long note to end this no-brainer of a single, well done! Track 3 is a less popular single titled "Everybody's Fool" and Moody starts things off with a cool acoustic guitar riff and the rest of the band builds a nice heavier, nu-metal background that somehow meshes very nicely with the acoustic riff. Lee sounds pretty good once again as she sings nicely overtop another catchy main riff and things roll right into a similar chorus with some catchy, simple metal guitars and some nice long-held notes by Lee. It's a pretty straightforward single once they get going, but it was decent still. The next song is the other chart-topper, "My Immortal" and it's a very slow, sad song driven by some sad but solid piano by Hodges. Lee sings softly to match the mood and it's a very quiet but somehow epic verse. The piano picks up as they move into the chorus and a whole strings section adds to the sad feeling of things as Lee holds some long notes, and hits a pretty high one before things quiet down again for the second round. After said round things come to a pretty epic climax with Lee going high, the piano really picking up and the strings getting very loud in a pretty great execution, then things quiet right down for the epic finish. This is obviously not a headbanger, but they absolutely nailed it and it's no wonder that this became immensely popular. Track 5 is "Haunted" and Lee does the whole first verse by herself before Moody and the rest of the band eventually come in for a typical simplle/heavy chorus. The second verse has Moody adding some nice heavy stop-and-start guitar and things sound much better from here on out to me. After this round Moody breaks out a nice lengthy solo and it sounds pretty epic and cool, then they wrap it up with a final chorus. Up next is "Tourniquet" and it's driven by an upbeat and pretty catchy main riff by Moody. Lee sounds pretty great on this pretty cool verse and the chorus is another undeniably catchy one and I'm surprised this one wasn't a single as well! They stick to the catchy main drag, until the ending which has some more strings providing a quietly epic finish to things. Track 7 is "Imaginary" and it's got some really cool strings to kick us off and drive the song and when Moody's heavy guitar kicks in things sound very solid. The verse is much different and much lighter, driven by some cool piano by Hodges and some more solid singing by Lee. The heavy riff returns for the chorus and things sound very smooth and pretty catchy once again. After another round there's an epic midsection which Moody eventually plays a short, fairly quiet solo overtop of, then it's back to the chorus to predictably but decently wrap things up. The next track is "Taking Over Me" and it begins with some more solid piano by Hodges and Moody enters with a stop-and-start guitar riff that hits decently hard, but it's pretty damn simple and unexciting otherwise. Lee sounds pretty epic and solid and she drives this whole song as things roll right into a similar chorus. Things sound decent, but like I said, pretty simple, and if it weren't for Lee's singing this could've easily been a B-side. Track 9 is "Hello" and Hodges is all over the latter half of this album with another light but epic piano riff leading the way (and words aren't properly doing him justice either, it's another unique and pretty cool piano riff). It's just Lee and Hodges for the whole song and the sad piano and Lee's smooth and epic voice make for an epicly sad song that tugs at the heartstrings. Some cello makes things sound exponentially more depressing and once again when they drop their usual style, they really are nailing the sad piano songs. Up next is "My Last Breath" and Hodges plays some epic synths in the background this time while Moody jumps right into another hard-hitting and pretty cool chorus riff. The verse is pretty quiet with Freese playing a nice drum beat and Lee leading the way her usual epic voice and it rolls smoothly into the pop-y chorus. This is another song that easily could have been a single, it's very smooth and easy to listen to and decently catchy. The final song on the album is "Whisper" and they kick right into one of their more complex main riffs on this album as Moody leads the way with a pretty sweet main riff! As they like to do the guitar falls away for the verse as Hodges adds some creepy piano and synths mix for an interestingly epic verse, of course with Lee sounding pretty good. The chorus is pretty simple (once again as they like to do) and pop-y and that cool opening riff is apparently just a nice segue between rounds. Moody delivers a decent guitar solo at one point and after a final chorus there's a whole additional minute of a choir chanting epicly along with some pretty epic strings! It's an interesting way to end things, but it sounds pretty good!

That is the end of "Fallen" and I thought it was a pretty solid debut album by Evanescence. Amy Lee is a great pop/rock singer and she sounds pretty solid on every track, and Ben Moody is filled with all kinds of catchy rock/metal riffs. They got a lot of help with some pretty good keyboards and lots of orchestral parts and all in all it was a good album for sure. Unfortunately I find they drop off majorly after this commercial breakthrough and this is the only album I have by Evanescence in my library. A solid one it is though and certainly a worthy addition.