Fallen - Evanescence > Reviews > ...DREAMING...

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Average
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Not applicable
Value for Money

Advantages:	Amy Lee's voice, 11 great rock songs
Disadvantages:	nope

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Imagine you are sitting in the cinema and you are watching a movie that bores you…but suddenly you are fascinated…not by the movie itself but by the soundtrack of the movie. I experienced this situation when I was watching “Daredevil”, the song that caught my attention was “Bring me to life” by Evanescence.

A few weeks later I saw the video of the song at MTV…and I was fascinated again…
This was the beginning of a wonderful love story!

EVANESCENCE – FALLEN

Originally, Evanescence consisted of singer Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody. Ben Moody met Amy for the first time when she was playing the piano and singing a couple of songs and he was so fascinated by her voice that he asked her whether she would like to make music with him.

Their first record “Origin” was published in 2000. 3000 copies were only produced so that it is impossible to get this record today.
Since “Bring me to life” was so successful all over the world, Evanescence published their first “real” record and a few million copies have been sold since 2003.

In the meantime, Ben Moody left the band and was replaced by John LeCompt. On stage Amy and John are supported by three other musicians.

TRACKS TO HEAR

Going under (10/10)
Bring me to life (10/10)
Everybody’s fool (10/10)
My immortal (10/10)
Haunted (9/10)
Tourniquet (10/10)
Imaginary (9/10)
Taking over me (9/10)
Hello (9/10)
My last breath (10/10)
Whisper (9/10)

DREAMING….

Sit back, close your eyes and dream.
The record starts with Amy Lee's dark voice and Ben Moody's guitar chords are repeated again and again – it sounds like he wants to burn them into the eyes of the hearer. After a few seconds Amys singing becomes clearer. You can also hear a few notes that are played by a piano. GOING UNDER shows us all advantages of the music of the band: you want to sing this song along, because the chorus doesn’t leave your ears & hard guitar chords … GOING UNDER sounds great!

In my opinion, BRING ME TO LIFE is the best song published in 2003. Amy Lees fantastic, pleading voice is supported by Paul McCoy from the 12 Stones to form an extraordinary duet!
It’s a fantastic rock song and it doesn’t get boring. The piano, the guitars, the singing…everything is perfect. This song is so emotional, so wonderful…em…do you think I can marry this masterpiece of music?

EVERYBODY’S FOOL and HAUNTED fascinate by their hooklines, their guitar chords, their texts…Amys voice sounds so powerful and fits perfectly with the other elements of these songs. HAUNTED creates a depressing atmosphere at the beginning – it starts with weird noises you cannot define exactly, Amys voice sounds in a way cold – till Ben Moody produces hard guitar chords. Yeah, this song rocks. The end surprises with a choir that supports Amy Lee’s pleading screams…a great guitar solo by Ben Moody completes this fabulous track.

Another example for the sense of Evanescence to create atmospheric songs is song number six of “Fallen”, TOURNIQUET. I think, that I’ve seldom heard such a great chorus than this one: “My God, my tourniquet, return to me salvation”. Amy Lees voice in this song is overwhelming, I love it!
MY LAST BREATH is also a great song. Of course: Ben Moody's guitar chords only vary slightly and I know a few guitarists whose plays sounds more innovative, but they perfectly fit to the singing of Amy Lee. MY LAST BREATH has also a chorus that causes goose-flesh when you hear it. The texts of these two songs are both sad and deals with suicide or disappointed love: “Holding my last breath / save inside myself / are all my thoughts of you / sweet raptured light / it ends here tonight”

The last song is called WHISPER and it also appeared on “Origin” – in a slightly different way. WHISPER is the favourite song of the band and it’s also the last song of every concert. It starts with a long intro – you can hear strings. Again a wonderful chorus combined with nice guitar chords…hey, it’s not innovative but it sounds great! The song sounds more dramatic than others because of a choir that sings Latin phrases at the end…that sounds unusual and mysterious. Also a great song.

When I listened to this record for the first time I was surprised as song number four started: a soft melody, only played by the piano. And then Amy Lee: her voice sounds so…sad, so powerful, so hurt…I love the timbre of her voice in MY IMMORTAL, the most beautiful ballad for years. This song is so emotional and – and that’s the most surprising fact – these emotions are TRUE. Whenever I hear this song, my mind fades away and I start dreaming…

HELLO is the second real ballad on this record and it sounds even more sad than MY IMMORTAL. Again there is the piano and there are strings that play a simple but effective melody and Amy Lee sings so sad – please, don’t hear this song when you are in a bad mood. I dare say that the tears will probably roll down…

The last two songs, IMAGINARY and TAKING OVER ME are a mixture of on the one hand a ballad and on the other hand a rock song: the piano and the strings play a major role in this song but the refrains of both songs are so powerful that it’s impossible to speak of ballads. Amy sings very emotional – as usual.

You see: I love this record. I’ve heard it for at least one hundred times since I got it as a birthday present in 2003. This record never bores me, I love the compositions of the tracks, the guitar chords, the melodies and mainly Amy Lee’s voice. The hearer WANTS to listen to her singing. Her voice is so powerful, emotional, desperate and pleading at the same time. It simply catches your attention and doesn't let it go. I think that anybody agree with me when I assert that Amy Lee is one of the most talented singers at the moment.

The texts are unusual and all very sad. I wonder why a young woman like Amy Lee writes texts about suicide and other horrible things. But the texts and the music and Amy’s voice form altogether a brilliant debut record.
I think that it makes no sense to argue whether the music of Evanescence should be called “gothic” or “metal” or even “nu metal” – it’s emotional rock-music.

SUMMARY

45 minutes or eleven great songs without any bad piece of music – that’s “Fallen”…in my opinion a masterpiece!
“Fallen” is definitely one of the best records that was published in 2003. Music with heart and soul and true emotions … I love it and I hope that they will record new songs as soon as possible ….I’m already waiting for it!

Five stars and of course a recommendation.

Cheerio, Holger.

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I’m apologizing for all the mistakes in this review. That was actually my first review in a foreign language and I tried to do my best to avoid terrible mistakes. Thanks for reading and I’m looking forward to your comments.