Evanescence - The Open Door
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Free Music Notes for The Open Door
Free Music Review: Solid album, though slicker & tamer than its predecessor
Hit: 5 Stars
THE BAND: Amy Lee (lead vocals, piano), Terry Balsamo (guitars), John LaCompt (guitars), Will Boyd (bass), Rocky Gray (drums & percussion).
THE DISC: 13 tracks clocking in at just over 54 minutes. Included with the disc is a 22-page booklet with song titles/credits, song lyrics, color band photos, and thank you's. All songs and choral arrangements written by Amy Lee and/or Terry Balsamo (except "All That I'm Living For" by Lee and LaCompt). Recorded at Record Plant Studios, Los Angeles, CA. Label - Wind-Up Records.
COMMENTS: "The Open Door" picks up for the most part where "Fallen" left off. However, the band's suffered a major facelift. Gone is writer/guitarist Ben Moody, keyboardist David Hodges, bassist Francesco DiCosmo, and drummer Josh Freese... all from the "Fallen" (2003) debut. You'll find the same Amy Lee soaring vocals; the same producer (Dave Fortman), the same crunchy guitars, and the same Millenium Choir out of Los Angeles. New band members include ex-Cold guitarist Balsamo. Evanescence is certainly a breath of fresh air in the world of rock/metal music. Melody is the main ingredient... with songs taking you on an extensive voyage... hitting both North and South poles - hard and crunchy verses soft and smooth. Where "Fallen" might have seemed raw and edgy, "The Open Door" is slick, polished and professional. Songs are varied, musicianship top notch and vocals beautifully unique. The first 3 tracks start off heavy (perhaps the best songs on the album... including the first hit released from the disc "Call Me When You're Sober"), followed by the best of several power ballads on the disc, "Lithium". "Cloud Nine" has a heavy beat and a chorus that's hauntingly perfect for Halloween. The 2nd half of the disc is much softer than I expected. Where the majority of "Fallen" was pretty heavy, almost half of the tracks on "The Open Door" are fairly slow - showcasing Lee's vocals and piano playing. No sophomore slump here. This is a great rock album and an instant favorite of mine in 2006 (4.5 stars).
Free Music Review: Over a year, still a great CD.
Hit: 5 Stars
The album "The Open Door" has been our for over a year now and I think its time to rate it. :)
1. Sweet Sacrifice: This song is very different...but good different. Love the lyrics and the overall sound of the song. 4/5
2. Call Me When You're Sober: Their first single of this album. Love the lyrics; im sure people can relate to them (like me). Still love this song after all this time! 4/5
3. Weight of the World: Well, this song is good...but its the only song on the album that hasnt grown on to me. Maybe it will later on, but as of now this is probobly my least favorite song on the album. 3/5
4. Lithium: Slow, Catchy toon, with guitar. Great song! I can really relate to the lyrics. 4/5
5. Cloud Nine: This is the only song on the album that at times its my favorite and at other times its my least favorite. At first I loved this song, then I got bored of it, but now I love it again. 3.5/5
6. Snow White Queen: I don't normally go right for this song, but if i click it my accident or if it plays on shuffle I always listen to it. Good song! 3.5/5
7. Lacrymosa: Love, Love, Love this song! Sounds great, great lyrics! 4.5/5
8. Like You: This is one of the more personal songs on the album for Amy. Im not going to go into detail because its not my story to tell but I like the way this song flows + the lyrics are good. 4/5
9. Lose Control: I have to be honest. At first, I HATED this song! I thought it was pointless and it sounded weird. But now it is actualy one of my favorite songs of the album! 4.5/5
10. The Only One: Just like "Lose Control" I hated this song at firs too. But now its one of my favorites! 4.5/5
11. Your Star: Best song ever. Enough said. 5/5
12. All That I'm Living For: Kinda "loud" for my taste, but I really like this song. 4/5
13. Good Enough: Great slow song for the times you don't wanna rock out! LOVE the lyrics! 5/5
Free Music Review: Oh, wow, it just gets better and better.
Hit: 5 Stars
Evanescence has changed, and this album is as good as their first, if not better. Completely different, The Open Door is a fresh undertaking from a band we already knew was great. Now, Amy Lee's voice is back after a much-awaited 3+ years and it falls over you at times like a gentle black rain, or crashes into you like the jagged leading edge of an approaching storm. I don't like "female rockers" as a rule, but Amy Lee has what it takes to make my skin tingle - in a good way.
So many songs on this album, and every one is great and completely different. I love the piano melodies intertwined with the driving, heavy guitar chords. I have heard Evanescence compared to Linkin Park, and while that may be technically true, the similarity stops at the tempo of the music for me. Amy Lee and Evanescence evoke so much more emotion in me than LP, although I like them as well.
Amy Lee is obviously the center of the band now, as several others have already stated, but the rest of the band is still a force to be reckoned with. I do miss the "duets", however few they were on Fallen, but Evanescence has evolved into a much deeper band; much more emotional with Lee's vocals of course; and I can't wait for another album. Fallen has now made it back into my regular listening rounds because of The Open Door. I bought this album because of Call Me When You're Sober, but I was very satisfied that it was not the best song by far on here.
I'll leave the song-by-song reviews to those who do them so much better than I. I will say that there just isn't a bad song on here, or even one that I don't like as much as the others. I could listen to Amy Lee serenade me all day long. It makes me want to cry, to hold her, and then just listen and bask in the raw power of it. I'm a fan for life.
Keep up the good work guys!! All of you make it all worth while. I live for music and couldn't imagine a life without it. This world would be a much sorrier place indeed without great music.
Free Music Review: And now we can breathe a sigh of relief.
Hit: 5 Stars
When Evanescence fans found out about Ben Moody, half of the creative team that developed the earth-shattering Fallen album, had left the band, we were very nervous as to the future of the group. Not only were we worried it would never feel the same with a different band member, but we wondered if the band would never come up with comparable material for their next album and fall into obscurity. However, Amy Lee explained that she and Ben were butting heads because he wanted the band to have a more accessible sound, and she wanted the band to go in a much more creative direction. Obviously, she was telling the absolute truth. This album boldly steps out of the neat, organized box that Fallen had established.
In The Open Door, Amy Lee has not only managed to outdo her previous lyrics, but she has also continued in the direction she promised she would: continuing to explore the sounds of classical music and integrating them into metal. Many artists claim to have "classical influence" in their albums because they put in a string orchestra here, a chorus there, but do not truly understand that classical music is about much more than instrumentation. Amy, however, shows that she is seriously committed to showcasing the advanced harmonies and melodies that are usually exclusive to more sophisticated types of music. The Open Door is certainly no accessible listen. It takes very musically mature ears to be able to appreciate this masterpiece of an album. Dissonances are used to make consonances sound all the more beautiful, the chord progressions and sonorities are much more daring, and the use of the orchestra and chorus is astounding.
Simply put, Evanescence has just made musical history. This album shows that the band lives and breathes the statement made in "Everybody's Fool". This album will surely never top the sales of their debut album, and that's a good thing. The quality of one's audience is far superior to the quantity.
Free Music Review: Thank you Amy...
Hit: 5 Stars
Evanescence have finally delivered a follow-up to their hugely successful debut album `Fallen'...so the question remains...'how does it stack up?' `Sweet Sacrifice' opens the album off with a bang, crushing guitars and pounding drums coupled with Amy's brilliant vocals let us all know that this is exactly what we've been waiting for. `Call Me When You're Sober' is actually a really good song, as much as I hate the title. The song is about her struggle through her relationship with Seether frontman. `Weight of the World' is a great commanding track, heavy and Amy shines here, but it can't even hold a candle to `Lithium' which is by far my favorite track here. Starting with piano and building into one of the most engaging ballads I've ever heard, Evanescence goes all out with this one. `Cloud Nine' stands out to me, starting with those great background chants that sound like they belong in a horror movie and bursting forward with crushing guitars and harsh lyrics. `Snow White Queen' is pretty decent...the versus are much better than the chorus which falls a little generic. `Lacrymosa' is another brilliant song which opens very subtle and almost eerie and then just gets better, playing on the best assets of this band and creating a mood with a masterpiece. `Like You' is a beautiful ballad that really shows off Amy's beautiful voice. `Lose Control' is one of my favorites where Amy gets a little freaky and very edgy. It's a good sound for her. `The Only One' and `Your Star' are great general Evanescence tracks, as is `All That I'm Living For' but it's the closer `Good Enough' that really gets to me. It's just so subtle and elegant, stripped down and raw and oozing forth with utter brilliance. Sophomore slump this is not, for Evanescence have returned with just as much energy and creativity they made good for on their debut. Can't wait for the next installment.