A Review of the Album "Fallen" by American Rock Band Evanescence

“Fallen” is the debut album by Little Rock Arkansas based rock band Evanescence and it is the only album from this band that I have. But it is filled with memorable songs such as Going Under, Bring Me To Life, and Tourniquet. Even though Bring Me To Life is one of those songs that received lots of airtime, it is a good song with some rap style shouts in it. Musically, the song is similar to a Linkin Park style song. It is described as a nu-metal influenced song but I would say that such a characterization is kind of inaccurate. There are still good American rock bands out there, some of us just have to look for them.

Continuing on the significance of the album, Fallen is a very memorable album for this writer because of the fact that he bought the album while on vacation in Japan in 2005. Amy Lee’s vocals are powerful and she shows that she is one of the best American rock singers.

Although Fallen was released in 2003, it is still a relevant album today discussing themes such as love and relationships. The album begins in brilliant fashion with the famous song Going Under. This one is sometimes hard to handle if you are deeply in love with someone. The song is about a relationship that is so challenging that sometimes things reach the point where you could literally be crushed by it. Sometimes when we sacrifice so much for someone and they don’t appreciate it or realize it we feel betrayed.

The power of Amy Lee’s voice is evident in this song. The farther that we go under during a challenging relationship we will find it almost impossible to escape this predicament.

Everybody’s Fool is a song that might as well be about betrayal. Eventually the truth about a person comes out. My Immortal has piano and some synth in it as the song builds on the feeling that at times we need to have a person that us haunting us depart from us as their presence makes us feel uncomfortable. There are unfortunately people that will take advantage of us and use us, especially here in L.A. which is known as a city of flaky people. Taking Over Me is a powerful song about someone remembering another person. We remember a special person that loved us and we would do anything for that person. As Amy Lee sings: “taking over me” we can hear the power and passion in her voice. Evanescence is one of those groups that has set a tradition of Southern groups that have had fine moments in their careers. The song Hello is about one of Lee’s sisters that died very young.

Ben Moody who would leave the group after the album’s release commented about the album saying: “I didn't want it to sound too fabricated. “I love electronics and I love digital manipulation, but I wanted to first establish us as a real rock band. We're actually playing all of those parts: The strings are real, the choirs are real, the piano is real,” (Reesman, 2003). Well, the band did establish themselves with this first effort which is solid.

Reesman, B. (2003, August 1). Mix-Professional Audio and Music Production. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20080709040742/http://mixonline.com/recording/interviews/audio_evanescence_enduring_sound/