Evanescence

One of the most popular post-alternative American bands of the 2000s, Evanescence debuted with a hybrid operatic goth-pop sound that paired soul-baring introspection with churning metallic guitars. Fronted by singer/pianist Amy Lee, the band scored a massive hit with their first album, the Grammy-winning, international multi-platinum Fallen (2003), which went on to become one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century. That debut was followed by the chart-topping The Open Door (2006) and Evanescence (2011). Over the years and through multiple lineup shifts, the band persevered under Lee’s helm, eventually shifting from the radio-friendly anthems of their early days into a shimmering, classically inspired symphonic alternative outfit in the 2010s. After staging a comeback with 2017′s orchestral reimagining Synthesis, Lee and the band issued their fifth full-length, 2021′s The Bitter Truth.
Evanescence was formed in the early ’90s by Amy Lee and founding member Ben Moody at a youth camp in their native Little Rock, Arkansas. Lee and Moody worked steadily together, releasing three EPs at the tail-end of the ’90s, followed by a full-length album called Origin. They signed with Wind-Up Records in 2002, expanding to a full lineup consisting of guitarist John LeCompt, bassist Will Boyd, and drummer Rocky Gray not long after the completion of the band’s major-label debut, Fallen. Released in the spring of 2003 and initially marketed toward CCM audiences — an association the band disavowed rather rapidly — Fallen quickly proved to be a success thanks to the platinum hit single “Bring Me to Life,” which was soon followed by “My Immortal,” both reaching the Billboard Top Ten in the U.S. The album eventually went 17-times platinum across the globe. All this success led to two Grammys, one for Best New Artist and one for Best Hard Rock Performance, but a split within the ranks soon emerged, with Ben Moody leaving the group during their European tour.
Terry Balsamo, late of Cold, replaced Moody on guitar and became Amy Lee’s main songwriting partner. The fruits of their collaboration would take a while to surface as Evanescence continued to ride the success of Fallen, buying time with Anywhere But Home — a live album timed for the holiday season of 2004 — and then suffering a few setbacks in 2005, with Boyd leaving the band and Balsamo suffering a stroke. The group’s sophomore set, The Open Door, finally arrived in October of 2006, with Tim McCord — formerly Revolution Smile’s guitarist — joining on bass after its release. Spearheaded by the single “Call Me When You’re Sober,” The Open Door didn’t quite match the success of Fallen but it performed handsomely, debuting at number one on Billboard the week of its release. During the supporting tour for The Open Door in 2007, LeCompt was fired from the band and Gray quit, with guitarist Troy McLawhorn and drummer Will Hunt hired to take their respective places.
It was another long wait for the group’s third album, with the band scrapping sessions helmed by famed producer Steve Lillywhite before hiring Nick Raskulinecz, who wound up producing the eponymous album that appeared in October 2011, a full five years after The Open Door. Like its predecessor, Evanescence debuted at number one on the Billboard charts. A massive tour took up much of 2012 (including stops in North America, Europe, Asia, and South America), after which Lee announced that the band would take an extended break. Evanescence wouldn’t return to the stage until 2015, when they played the Japanese offshoot of Ozzfest and a handful of American dates. A brief U.S. tour followed in late 2016, coinciding with the release of a vinyl box set, The Ultimate Collection, which included all of the band’s studio albums — even the rare Origin. A newly recorded version of one Origin track, “Even in Death,” was featured on the compilation album Lost Whispers, which was issued in early 2017. Later that year, the band released a new studio album entitled Synthesis. Composed largely of new versions of their early material, re-recorded with orchestral arrangements and electronic elements, the cinematic set also included two new songs, “Imperfection” and “Hi-Lo,” with tourmate Lindsey Stirling. 2018′s Synthesis Live closed out the era.
Lee and the band — McLawhorn, Hunt, McCord, and guitarist Jen Majura — returned in 2019 to put their symphonic alt-metal spin on Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain” for the video game Gears 5. They continued recording fresh material in 2020 with producer Nick Raskulinecz, which would wind up on their fifth effort, The Bitter Truth. That set arrived in March 2021 — their first album of fresh material in a decade. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine & Neil Z. Yeung