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.
Bobby Prince, the composer who provided the soundtracks to legendary titles such as Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Doom II, has passed away.
Prince’s family confirmed the composer’s death on June 16 late last week at the age of 81. No cause of death was released.
id Software, the company that gave Prince his first job in the industry, paid tribute to the composer, referring to him as a “video game music pioneer.”
Indeed, in addition to providing the soundtracks to id Software’s hits in the FPS genre, Bobby Prince also provided the soundtracks to other id Software classics, such as portions of the scores for Commander Keen series and the forerunner to the modern FPS, Catacomb 3-D. Prince also worked with Apogee Software and 3D Realms, providing the soundtrack for Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold, and teaming with Lee Jackson for Rise of the Triad and Duke Nukem 3D.
Bobby Prince’s death comes just after the Library of Congress announced back in May that his soundtrack for Doom would be preserved in the National Recording Registry.
The soundtrack for Doom and its sequel took inspiration from designer John Romero‘s collection of CDs at the studio, which included the likes of Alice in Chains, Pantera, and Metallica. In spite of the limitations composers faced with the sound cards of the era, Prince was able to replicate riffs from songs like “Master of Puppets” and “Painkiller” for tracks like “At Doom’s Gate”, the iconic opening track for Doom‘s first level, E1M1.
For Doom II‘s soundtrack, Prince continued to employ the same tactic, lifting rifts from songs like “Sex Type Thing”, “After All (The Dead)”, “South of Heaven” and more.
In addition to composing, Bobby Prince was also a practicing lawyer, and had pursued a career as an attorney before making his way into the video games industry.
Bobby Prince is survived by his wife Connie, and his sons, Robert Caskin Prince IV and Andrew (Cristy) Prince.