Music
[Review] Evanescence ‘Evanescence’
It’s been five years since Evanescence has released an album. Usually that long of a delay would see fans moving on and an artist left behind, forgotten, abandoned. Evanescence defied that trend and are now back with their third album, Evanescence. The question is if the album is a return that shocks and awes or one that falls flat. Check after the jump for my take on the self-titled album!
The album kicks off with the current single What You Want, a driving, hard hitting anthem complete with chunky guitars and Amy Lee’s signature harmonies and call-and-response lyrics. The drums are solid and hit hard while the bass pops into the front of the mix at just the right points before settling back into holding the foundation.
The production and mix is a bit lopsided. The symphonic elements take the front stage more often than providing a lush background, resulting in an album that loses the rock emphasis. Amy Lee’s vocals are also drenched in reverb and delay. With a voice so strong and powerful, I was hoping to hear it a bit more naturally. However my biggest complaint is the guitar tone: with an album like this that has a singer who is so fierce and powerful, I wanted a guitar sound that grabbed me by the throat and threatened to rip my face off. Instead, I got a guitar tone that is generic and often sounds muted, as though a blanket was placed between the guitar cabinet and the microphone. The songs lose a lot of “oomph” as a result of this.
The album could have ended strongly with Never Go Back had it not been for the last track, Swimming. The former is a strong, heavy track that ends with the guitar droning before an abrupt end. This would have been a perfect way for the album to end. Strong, vicious and a suggestion of what is to come with, hopefully, a next album. However, the album continues with the latter, Swimming, a mellow track that kills the energy of Never Go Back. Don’t get me wrong as it’s a beautiful track with some extremely interesting sounds and melodies. However, it would’ve been better had it been placed earlier in the album.
Check out: The Other Side and Erase This.
The Final Word: I wanted to love this album, I really did. The songs are solid and structured well but a lopsided mix and lack of an engaging guitar tone hold Evanescence back from achieving what could have been a stunning return.
AMC has announced that The Vampire Lestat: One Night Only LIVE, the standing-room-only performance celebrating AMC’s premiere of its newly-released The Vampire Lestat at New York City’s iconic Beacon Theatre last month, will debut on streaming.
The Vampire Lestat: One Night Only LIVE begins streaming on AMC+ on August 23.
Ahead of its streaming premiere, fans can preview the concert event, featuring original songs from series composer Daniel Hart and performed by Sam Reid, in Hall H at Comic Con International on July 24.
Our own Daniel Kurland attended the special event, highlighting how electric the Immortal Vampire is on stage: “It’s clear in this season of television that Reid was born to be a rock star, but it’s surreal to see him effortlessly command the stage — and the audience — at every step of the concert. He recites Shakespeare monologues and bitches out Armand between songs, all while the audience screams in support. For the duration of this concert, Reid is Lestat, and he’s given thousands of fans a memory that’s as immortal as any vampire.”
Based on Anne Rice‘s The Vampire Chronicles book series, The Vampire Lestat is the rock and roll-centric third season of AMC’s “Interview with the Vampire” created by showrunner Rolin Jones.
The Vampire Lestat goes on an electric multi-city tour while being haunted by “muses” from his wild and rebellious past. As his band’s popularity and star power rises, so does Lestat’s influence over vampires and humans alike, leaving others to contend with Lestat’s power in the face of the Great Conversion, an unnatural surge in the vampire population.
Jacob Anderson, Assad Zaman, Eric Bogosian, Delainey Hayles and Jennifer Ehle star with Reid. Executive producers include Jones, Mark Johnson, Hannah Moscovitch, the late Anne Rice, and her son Christopher Rice.
The series finale airs this Sunday, July 19, on AMC and AMC+.