The Open Door

Average customer rating: 4.0

I love this CD
Decent follow up but wanes with time
This CD rocks
An Album That Far Surpasses Their Debut
Alright I guess

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The Open Door
Evanescence
Manufacturer: Wind-Up
Product Group: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000FTWB7G
2006-10-03

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Amazon.com

There's nothing like a breakup to focus your muse. This follow-up to the stunning, multi-platinum Fallen was penned as singer Amy Lee's troubled romance with bandmate Ben Moody was spiraling out of control, impelling her to craft an anxious record full of recriminations, revelation, and self-flagellation, as she questioned everything that kept her whole. It's a fascinating journey for the listener as she ventures into her own personal heart of darkness, her stricken, perfect voice suspended on an unsteady precipice between breakdown and breakthrough. Despite the loss of two members, including guitarist Moody who left mid-tour in 2003, the album has a maturity, sophistication, and a singular vision that wasn't found in their earlier work. Stately and as exotic as Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti, with its intricate instrumentation, disturbing imagery, and disembodied chorus, The Open Door shows exactly what this band is capable of. "Snow White Queen" is a goth-y alternative to Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together," equally anthemic, but with much more grit and pain. --Jaan Uhelszki

Album Description

The follow-up to their Multi-Platinum Debut Featuring the hit single "Call Me When You're Sober"

Customer Reviews:

I love this CD.......2007-06-09

I think this is a great sequel to fallen and suggest buying it if you liked the first CD

Decent follow up but wanes with time.......2007-06-08

I was a fan of Evanescence's first album and when I heard their single "Call Me When You're Sober" I had to purchase this one. Overall it is a competent piece of music. The first time through I was entranced, yet the more I listened to it the less of a hold it held on me. Overall, only tracks 2 and 7 really stand on their own. The rest of the album, without the supporting tracks to segue into and prop them up, fail as individual efforts. If ever there was an ensemble album where it is the whole rather than the individual parts which make it work this is it.

This CD rocks.......2007-05-30

I still like their previous album more, but this is still an excellent record.

An Album That Far Surpasses Their Debut.......2007-05-22

I want to preface this by saying a few things: The only reason I ever checked out Fallen and Evanescence is because I was mesmerized by Amy Lee's voice. She is perhaps the finest young singer out there today, and probably my favorite. Her tone, control, and inflections are just riveting and endlessly dramatic. However, as much as I loved Lee's voice, Fallen - on the whole - was a VERY mediocre album. That statement alone will send 5000 Evanescence fans crying foul with "this review wasn't helpful" votes, but hear me out:

As good as Lee's voice is, the majority of the music on Fallen was mostly just plain bad. Too much of it sounded like a bland Linkin Park ripoff (as if they weren't bland enough). The sole exception being a really good drummer - the guitars and bass on Fallen were just terrible. I say this coming from a music lover's background. Someone who feels actual music makes music good as opposed to catchiness or a good voice or lyrics. Fallen had great vocal performances in spades, and My Immortal is in my pantheon of all-time great songs. But the rest was just sub-par from a song-writing and musical standpoint.

With all of that out of the way, I get to The Open Door. Boy, did Lee and co. surprise me with this album. I will simply say that everything is vastly improved. It's denser and much more complex than Fallen, without losing an ounce of what made Fallen a success. That being outstanding vocal performances, and the right combination of catchy hooks and darkness. I honestly didn't expect an album like this from Evanescence so soon - an album that will seperate the Evanescence fanboys and fangirls from those who genuinely enjoy music as art.

Amy's voice has actually grown in leaps and bounds since Fallen. She has learned how and when to mix her haunting, wispy vocals with her towering, belting vocals. Besides that, we have a whole new lot of inflections from Amy, including a dark and almost menacing low register. All of this is combined with perfect control and a highly dramatic delivery that brings to mind opera without being over the top. Speaking of leaps and bounds, the guitars on this album are exactly that. Gone is the puking tone from Fallen's Ben Moody, and here is a tight, "dialed in just right" metal tone from the much more competant Terry Balsamo. Besides the tone, the interplay between the guitarists is actually pretty good. Nothing on the level of Iron Maiden or Judas Priest, but still darn good for a mainstream band. On the whole, the guitars go from what was an annoyance on Fallen to genuinely enjoyable on The Open Door. The drums and bass also provide a solid backbone and a driving momentum for most of the songs. While perhaps a bit forgettable compared to the rest of the album, they're by no means bad.

In terms of song-writing we hear an artist learning to write multi-faceted and well structured songs that actually go somewhere. Sweet Sacrifice and Call Me When You're Sober rock as hard as anything on Fallen, but both are exceedingly better structured with some - surprisingly - good, interlocking guitar work. The dark, haunting numbers are equally as accomplished. Lithium builds perfectly into a momentous finale with Lee's voice looming large over the hulking guitars. Like You is as bleak as anything they've done. With disturbing lyrics that match the somberness of the music.

Elsewhere, the multitude of experimentation works much more often than it doesn't. Snow White Queen starts out as a brooding piece before bursting into one of the best choruses on the album. Lacrymosa might be THE highlight of the album. Sampling a piece from Mozart's Requiem we hear a near brilliant fusion of dire classical and gravely gothic metal. This piece builds from just the strings of Mozart's piece into a colossal finale with grinding, churning guitars and Amy's soaring voice mixing with the Lacrimosa chorus creating a truly dramatic ending. Your Star begins with a eerie piano bit, before Lee enters with a ghostly like vocal. The song again builds into an excellent finale with an intricate dual piano/guitar melody.

The last half of the album is just as rewarding as the first. This is another differing point from Fallen - which fell apart near the end. The Only One and All That I'm Living For actually match the power of the lead singles, and are perhaps even more satisfying with repeat listens. The album closes with its answer to My Immortal in Good Enough. This is a simple gem of a song. It's not as immediately striking and memorable as My Immortal, but it's equally as stellar. Featuring Amy Lee at her most confessional and restrained, this is a sobering and haunting song. Sounding little like Evanescence's usual goth-metal-pop mix, this song bears more resemblence to R&B. In truth, this is as soulful a song as I've heard in a long time, and as good a vocal performance as I've ever heard.

The Open Door is not all premium material though, with a few generic numbers. Weight of the World just can't match the power of the opening songs. Cloud Nine and Lose Control are also rather drab and one dimensional. This would've likely been a stronger album if those songs were cut, trimming the album from 13 to 10 songs. These few minor grievances cannot detract from what is still a marvelous album. Compared to Fallen, I was surprised by how much better this album got with repeated listens, which is likely due to it being much more subtle and intricately structured. Another highlight is the outstanding production that allows the details (and Amy's voice) to shine. This album sounds absolutely magnificant on my high end audio system, and is one of my favorites to listen to because of it.

Now, compared to bands like The Gathering and Lacuna Coil, Evanescence still has a ways to go. But as a mainstream band trying to fuse pop and gothic metal, they succeed admirably. What we end up with is an album that fulfills the potential shown on their debut, while still hinting that perhaps even better things are to come. I will say that this is an album that uber-fans of Fallen might not easily get into and like (as shown by the polarizing reviews on Amazon). But I extremely respect Amy Lee for delivering a truely dark, confessional album with many musical highlights rather than a banal remake of Fallen. If I only enjoyed Fallen because of Lee's vocals, I truly enjoy every aspect of The Open Door - from the vocals to the music and arrangements to the production. And that's as high a compliment as I can give this album.

Alright I guess.......2007-05-21

This is about a three and half star CD. I love their first CD "Fallen", which was quite originally. It was a breath of fresh air to hear "Fallen". But it would seem that once Brian Moody left the band and well....several other people as well(about a year or two later). Each musician brings their own style of playing an instrument and singing. You can't change that no matter how hard you try. I mean yes true bands can like Red Hot Chili Peppers. But that's kinda rare to see and to find(if there's another band like this tell me. Metallica doesn't count since Red Hot Chili Peppers went through about ten different people before the line up now). I have to say, starting a band is like starting a family business. And if one person doesn't do their job the business will fall or not be the same.

And I feel that I can see(or hear in this case) the major change in this band. All the original band members are no longer in the band. I'm not bashing the album completely. There are good songs on "The Open Door". But I wish Amy Lee could of mixed up a little and stop trying to re-create her first album. "The Open Door" actually didn't sell as much as the debut album. But that's just a side note.

I felt like I was listening to song for 45-60 minutes. There was no change in the line up. But I got to say the song "Snow White Queen" is one of the best songs on the album. And some songs I feel like Amy Lee just picked them off the first album and rearranged the lyrics. Like "Lacrymosa" kinda sounds like "Whisper" from the Fallen album. Maybe it's just me.

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