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When co-founder Ben Moody departed the Evanescence team in late 2004,
questions were asked as to whether goth-lite princess Amy Lee could steady
the ship alone. After all, Moody was the genius behind 2003-4 uber-hits
Bring Me To Life and My Immortal (musically, that is). The intrigue was
bolstered by Lee's talk pre-release that this was the album "I'd wanted to
make all along," and how it was on a level more personal to herself, free of
Moody's constraints. Nonetheless, questions were asked, and with the release
of the bands 2006 sophomore album, The Open Door, the baying public
finally have some answers...
The Open Door is indeed a more personal record for Ms Lee, but not how it'd
surely been intended. Lead single Call Me When You're Sober - a kiss-off
to ex-boyfriend (and Seether vocalist) Shaun Morgan - is as pretentious as
anything Fallen had seen 3 years prior. Self indulgent to almost breaking
point, the clich�d as hell lyrics and overly generic backing make for a
shockingly horrid song, and one that serves as first indicator as to just
how much the band miss Moody. Opener 'Sweet Sacrifice' serves no better; a
turgid attempt to recapture past glories, the heard-before riffs and
shockingly average vocals act as a slap from the proverbial wet fish. Yack.
The band ape their best chugga chugga riffs time and time again throughout
the album's 13 tracks, and where Lee's vocals were once there to save them
from obscurity, it's just not happening this time over. Weight Of The
World is your everyday rocker that's been done to death. Pleasant to listen
to once or twice, it's the type of ham-fisted rubbish the band had
desperately tried to avoid last time out. Lithium (unfortunately not
connected to the once great Nirvana track) and Cloud 9 serve up added
doses of trite, melodramatic rubbish, and with the former falling woefully
short of (what looks like an attempt to re-do) 2003's My Immortal, it shows
just how far Evanescence have fallen (ha, see what I did there?)
considerably since Moody's departure.
There is the odd saving grace however. Like You sees Lee trouble herself
over the passing of her younger sister; lyrically moving, it's one of the
few times the band recapture their old charm. It's soaring melody plays off
Lee's best vocal performance to give the discs undoubted highlight.
Melodramatic? Maybe. Decent? Oh yes.
The Only One and Your Star unfortunately bring the disc back to earth
with a bump. The former's building piano intro wishes it could have been on
Fallen, whilst the latter couples (another) piano intro with Lee's
off-canter vocals before building into yet another overly-generic rock-out.
Ms Lee attempts to sound angry on the clich�d All That I'm Living For, but
the expected power chords curtail the track before it gets off the ground.
Seeing Amy Lee's lyrics go as drastically down the pan as this resembles
watching a bad car crash. It's nigh on inconceivable that the
angelic-vocalled woman that once wrote the moving/emotive/whatever My
Immortal could churn out such dross as Call Me When You're Sober.
Musically it's power chords and big riffs-ahoy, generic, mundane, boring
stuff. The Open Door is an exercise in how not to make a sophomore album (or
any album for that matter) and it's a shame, for these guys were once a
great, great band.
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