Evanescence

EVANESCENCE

   Evanescence is an American rock band founded in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1995 by singer/pianist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody.After recording private albums, the band released their first full-length album, Fallen, on Wind-up Records in 2003. Fallen sold more than 17 million copies worldwide and helped the band win two Grammy Awards.A year later, Evanescence released their first live album, Anywhere but Home, which sold more than one million copies worldwide. In 2006, the band released their second studio album, The Open Door, which sold more than six million copies.

   The line-up of the group has changed several times: David Hodges leaving in 2002, co-founder Moody left in 2003 (mid-tour), bassist Will Boyd in 2006, followed by guitarist John LeCompt and drummer Rocky Gray in 2007. The last two changes led to a hiatus, with temporary band members contributing to tour performances. Billboard ranked Evanescence #71 on the Best Artists of the Decade chart.

   Announced in June 2009, the newest line-up of the band eventually returned with Evanescence, their self-titled third studio album, released on October 11, 2011. It debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart with 127,000 copies in sales.According to Examiner.com, the album also debuted at #1 on four other different Billboard charts; the Rock Albums, Digital Albums, Alternative Albums, and the Hard Rock Albums charts. The first single, "What You Want", was released on August 9, 2011. The second single, "My Heart Is Broken", was sent to radio stations in October 31, 2011. The band is currently on tour in promotion for their new record along with The Pretty Reckless and Fair to Midland.

In other media:

   Lee claimed that she wrote a song for the 2005 film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but that it was rejected because of its dark sound. Lee went on to state that it was just "more great stuff [for The Open Door]".Another song supposedly written for Narnia was the Mozart-inspired "Lacrymosa".The producers of Narnia, however, rebutted her claim, stating this information was "news to them" and that no Evanescence music had been planned for inclusion in the soundtrack.

   In 2010, Evanescence released "Together Again" as a digital download, a song created for The Open Door but later cut. The song was released due to benefit the United Nations Foundation for their Haiti earthquake recovery efforts.It later received wide release as a digital download on February 23, 2011.

Musical style:

"We're definitely a rock band, but the twist is that the band's music is epic, dramatic, dark rock."

—Amy Lee about Evanescence's genre, 2003

   Critics vary in terming Evanescence a rock or metal band, but most identify them as some form of gothic band: Publications such as The New York Times, Rough Guides, Rolling Stone and Blender have identified Evanescence as a gothic metal act, while other sources such as NME, MusicMight, IGN and PopMatters have termed them gothic rock.They have been compared to a variety of bands from differing genres, such as nu metal ensembles like P.O.D. and Linkin Park, gothic metal groups like Lacuna Coil, and symphonic metal acts like Nightwish and Within Temptation.David Browne of Blender offers an elaborate description of the band's music as "goth Christian nü-metal with a twist of melancholic Enya." Adrien Begrand of Popmatters describes Evanescence as utilising "nu-metal riffage".Adrian Jackson of My Dying Bride stated that he feels Evanescence is doing something similar to his own gothic metal group, only in a more commercial direction.Other genres and influences used to describe the band's sound include alternative metal, alternative rock, hard rock, electronica and chamber pop.The band's official website classed their musical genre simply as 'rock'.

   Evanescence was originally promoted in Christian stores. Later, the band made it clear they did not want to be considered part of the Christian rock genre, like fellow Wind-up Records artists Creed.Terry Hemmings, CEO of Christian music distributor Provident, expressed puzzlement at the band's about-face, saying "They clearly understood the album would be sold in these [Christian music] channels." After many Christian stores began to remove the band's music from their shelves, Wind-up Records chairman Alan Meltzer then issued a press release in April 2003 requesting formally that they do this.In 2006, Amy Lee told Billboard that she had opposed being identified as a "Christian band" from the beginning.

Band member:

Current:

• Amy Lee – lead vocals, keyboards, harp (1995–present)

• Terry Balsamo – lead guitar (2003–present)

• Troy McLawhorn – rhythm guitar (2007, 2011–present)

• Tim McCord – bass (2006–present)

• Will Hunt – drums (2007, 2010–present)

Former:

• Ben Moody – lead guitar (1995–2003)

• David Hodges – keyboard, piano, drums, backing vocals (1999–2002)

• Rocky Gray – drums, percussion (2003–2007; live member 2002-2003)

• John LeCompt – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2003–2007; live member 2002-2003)

• Will Boyd – bass (2003–2006)

Session musicians:

• Francesco DiCosmo - bass (2003; appears on "Fallen")

• Josh Freese - drums, percussion (2003; appears on "Fallen")

Discography:

ORIGIN

(2000)

   Origin is the first demo CD by American rock band Evanescence. It was released on November 4, 2000 through Bigwig Enterprises, with only 2,500 copies being pressed and sold at the band's live concerts in Little Rock, Arkansas and on the Bigwig Enterprises website.

   After the band's success, pirated versions of the album began selling for over $300 on eBay, and it became nearly impossible to find an original copy. Although it is commonly referred to as a full-length album, lead vocalist and co-founder Amy Lee refers to it as a "dressed up" demo CD, and urges fans to simply download the album, rather than purchase it.It contains earlier versions of "Whisper", "Imaginary", and "My Immortal", which appeared on the band's debut studio album, Fallen, as well as a re-recorded version of the track "Where Will You Go", which previously appeared on the Evanescence EP released in 1998. Three tracks were omitted: "Catherine", "Spanish", and "Listen to the Rain". "Listen" was planned to be merged into the track, "Eternal", but it was replaced with instrumental track "Demise".

FALLEN

(2003)

   Fallen is the debut studio album by American rock band Evanescence. It was released on March 4, 2003, through Wind-up Records. The album was recorded in multiple recording studios, including Conway Recording Studios in Hollywood, California. It is commercially the band's most successful album to date, selling more than 7 million copies in the United States alone, and more than 15 million worldwide. It debuted at number 7 on the Billboard 200, selling more than 141,000 copies within its first week, eventually peaking at number 3 in June 2003. Internationally, it has topped the charts in more than ten countries worldwide. It was certified Platinum seven times by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and acquired multiple certifications worldwide.

   Upon its release, Fallen received mixed to positive reviews from music critics. It spawned four singles: "Bring Me to Life", "My Immortal", "Going Under", and "Everybody's Fool". "Bring Me to Life" and "My Immortal" peaked within the charts of more than ten countries, including Australia, United Kingdom, and the United States. The album earned the band five nominations at the 46th Grammy Awards: Album of the Year, Best Rock Album, Best Rock Song, Best Hard Rock Performance and Grammy Award for Best New Artist, winning Best New Artist and Best Hard Rock Performance.

THE OPEN DOOR

(2006)

   The Open Door is the second studio album by the American rock band Evanescence. It was first released in Poland on September 25, 2006, through Wind-up Records and subsequently in more than 20 other countries worldwide. Originally intended to be released in March 2006, the release date of The Open Door was changed due to guitarist Terry Balsamo's stroke, the loss of the band's former manager and Will Boyd's and Ben Moody's departure from the band. The album symbolizes a new beginning for the band, incorporating new elements in their old music such as gothic rock, symphonic rock and pop music as well as choirs on several songs. The writing process for the album took a period of over 18 months and the majority of the songs were written by Amy Lee and Terry Balsamo, while being produced by Dave Fortman.

   The album received mixed to positive reviews from music critics who generally praised its lyrical content and the instrumentation accompanied by Lee's vocals. However, some critics gave a negative review towards the different sound from the band's last album Fallen (2003). The album earned a nomination at the 50th Grammy Awards for Best Hard Rock Performance with "Sweet Sacrifice". The band also won in the category Album of the Year at the 2007 MTV Australia Video Music Awards. The Open Door debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 selling more than 447.000 copies in its first week. It topped the charts in Australia, Europe, Germany, Greece and Switzerland and charted in top five in over fifteen countries. The album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) just over a month after its release, and has since sold more than six million copies worldwide. It was also certified Platinum, Gold and 2× Platinum in over fifteen worldwide markets. As of October, 2011 it has sold more than two million copies in the United States and over six million copies worldwide.

   "Call Me When You're Sober" was digitally released as the first single from the album on September 4, 2006 and it was later released as a CD single on September 27. It peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and it charted within the top 20 in several more charts internationally. "Lithium" was released as the second single on January 1, 2007 while "Sweet Sacrifice" was released as the third international single from the album on May 5, 2007. "Good Enough" was released as the fourth single from the album and it failed to chart on the music charts. The Open Door had been supported by two worldwide tours.

EVANESCENCE

(2011)

   Evanescence is the self-titled third studio album by American rock band Evanescence. The album was released on October 7, 2011, through Wind-up Records. The band started the writing process for the album in June 2009. The release of the album was changed several times; on February 22, 2010 the band entered the studio with producer Steve Lillywhite, but later they stopped recording the album with him because he "wasn't the right fit". During that time the album was scheduled for an August or September 2010 release, but Lee later announced that Evanescence had left the studio to write more material. On April 11, 2011, the band went back into the studio with a new producer, Nick Raskulinecz.

   According to Lee, the band drew influences from Björk, Depeche Mode, Massive Attack, MGMT and Portishead in the album. The songs on Evanescence contain elements of gothic rock, nu-metal and hard rock as well as new electro elements. Upon its release, the album received mixed to positive reviews from music critics who generally praised the new musical elements in the sound of the songs and Lee's vocals. However, some of them criticized it for being similar to the band's older material.

   The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart with 127,000 copies in sales. It also debuted at number one on four other different Billboard charts including the Rock Albums, Digital Albums, Alternative Albums, and the Hard Rock Albums charts. The album was also successful worldwide appearing on the charts of over twenty countries. The band promoted Evanescence by premiering some of the songs online on various websites and appearing on several televised shows. In 2011, they embarked their third worldwide tour for the album along with The Pretty Reckless and Fair to Midland.

   The first single from the album, "What You Want", was released on August 9, 2011. "My Heart Is Broken", the second single of the album was sent to Hot/Mod/AC radio on October 31, 2011 and to pop radio on November 1, 2011. Lee confirmed that "Made of Stone" will be released as the album's third single.

And now, it's time for some epicness: