Written by Thelonia
On the same day as Taylor Swift released her much-anticipated (and dreaded) 5th album, band-I -heavily-associate-with-middle-school Evanescence also released an album (their 4th, and their first album in over six years). If you were in any way the kind of kid who listened to a lot of pretty sounding rock in your life (or has jammed to "Bring Me To Life" at karaoke; don't @ me, it's a good karaoke song), then this might come as both exciting news (new music!) and horrifying (oh god, here come embarrassing teen memories). I am here to tell you that your fears are both completely unfounded and terribly, terribly, real.
First of all, far from being a completely new album (which can sometimes lead to strange and off-putting directions, hi again Taylor), this new album, Synthesis, is actually composed of re-recordings of Evanescence's old material, with a few newer additions.
There are two new songs on the album, "Hi-Lo" and "Imperfections," the first being a song cut from their 3rd self-titled album, here featuring violinist Lindsey Stirling. The second is their lead single off the album, a song all about embracing your imperfections and is basically John Legend's "All of Me"'s more goth cousin (it's about suicide, y'all).
"Don't look now, but the little girl's got a grenade." tops a list of lines in here that would have gotten me hyped as hell at 14.
The rest of the album are rerecorded orchestral arrangements of songs off all their previous albums, which might get you really hype if you have ever been a fan (I cannot say for sure I did not start singing along even though I've not actually listened to these songs in literal years), but might sound overly melodramatic if you've never had "that phase."
While it is slightly jarring to not have a strange man yelling throughout "Bring Me To Life" (that's what makes it so much fun at karaoke!), it has also been revealed to be something the band didn't particularly want when they first released the song, and mostly the addition of the recording company, so it is nice to return to their original sounds, even if it sounds a bit empty if you're expecting it to be there.
Synthesis might be best enjoyed in short bursts - after a while, and without the heavier rock elements that were the backbone of a lot of their earlier work, this new album blends together a bit, particularly in the slower songs, even if they have a much grander feel to them that is nice to hear. Still Lee's vocal performance more than makes up for any lack of power in the instrumentation particularly on high notes in songs like "Lacrymosa."
If you ever were an Evanescence fan, I'd check out this album, if only to listen to some nice symphonic versions of the songs that you probably angst-ed to years ago, though I'm unsure if this is going to do anything for anyone who didn't already like the original songs. But hey, if nothing else, this makes for really good writing music.
Synthesis is available on all major music platforms.
There are two new songs on the album, "Hi-Lo" and "Imperfections," the first being a song cut from their 3rd self-titled album, here featuring violinist Lindsey Stirling. The second is their lead single off the album, a song all about embracing your imperfections and is basically John Legend's "All of Me"'s more goth cousin (it's about suicide, y'all).
"Don't look now, but the little girl's got a grenade." tops a list of lines in here that would have gotten me hyped as hell at 14.
The rest of the album are rerecorded orchestral arrangements of songs off all their previous albums, which might get you really hype if you have ever been a fan (I cannot say for sure I did not start singing along even though I've not actually listened to these songs in literal years), but might sound overly melodramatic if you've never had "that phase."
While it is slightly jarring to not have a strange man yelling throughout "Bring Me To Life" (that's what makes it so much fun at karaoke!), it has also been revealed to be something the band didn't particularly want when they first released the song, and mostly the addition of the recording company, so it is nice to return to their original sounds, even if it sounds a bit empty if you're expecting it to be there.
Synthesis might be best enjoyed in short bursts - after a while, and without the heavier rock elements that were the backbone of a lot of their earlier work, this new album blends together a bit, particularly in the slower songs, even if they have a much grander feel to them that is nice to hear. Still Lee's vocal performance more than makes up for any lack of power in the instrumentation particularly on high notes in songs like "Lacrymosa."
If you ever were an Evanescence fan, I'd check out this album, if only to listen to some nice symphonic versions of the songs that you probably angst-ed to years ago, though I'm unsure if this is going to do anything for anyone who didn't already like the original songs. But hey, if nothing else, this makes for really good writing music.
Synthesis is available on all major music platforms.
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