Review: The Open Door (2007)

Just following on from the theme of my last post, this is still not a real blog post. I guess that's what you should be expecting by now. This is another one of those reviews I like doing, and this one is for an album from the band Evanescence. For those who have been living under a massive, dense rock for all these years, Evanescence is an alternative metal/rock band pioneered by frontman (and primary lyricist and composer) Amy Lee. Though the line-up has seen some instability since the group's inception, Lee has (obviously stayed in the band) kept the band up and running and to present day, it's still doing great (though The Open Door is the last release and it is now 2010, so you can say they haven't been very active lately).

I think it's hard to really pinpoint a subgenre for Evanescence's music. They sure are a commerical band, by one glance at some of the sales figures they've been seeing with their major releases and it's quite obvious. However, they lack a lot of elements that surround commercial bands of their stature and popularity. To this day I'm surprised that I'm actually into their music, because my favourite music are anything but mainstream. I guess what caught me off-guard is the musical freedom they have in their music (and it will be demonstrated in this review of their recent album) despite being all mainstream and popular.

Yes, more about me and less about the album! Just skip the next two entire paragraphs if you want to know about the album. Anyway, I've known the band for a really long time. Really long as in I can trace my experience with their music back to primary school, that was when I was really into stuff like Pokemon and frequently visited a forum related to it. There I gained a few (internet) friends who made up a lot of my pre-high school social life. Yes, it's pretty sad. Anywho, that's when I heard their song 'My Immortal', which (for all those under-the-rock inhabitants) is a 100% piano driven piece coupled with Lee's vocals. Back then I wasn't really into this sort of music.. I guess I liked it, but that's about it. To me it was too melancholic and sad; in a way it had too much emotion. It was only recently that I decided to go 'hey I used to like this song' and check out the band with my current 'evolved' musical foundation.

I was surprised to find that I actually liked the band. I guess it helps that Lee's voice is just great and how much the emotion mattered this time around. Of course, up to now that song isn't really my absolute favourite, but it was one of those ones that helped me get into the 'genre'. I was pretty stoked and I went looking for more songs. After listening to the whole 'Fallen' album (it is old; 2003 release), I decided that there was more to this band than I initially thought. I mean, it isn't an amazing album by any means (The Open Door is just that much better) but it was refreshing. So after that.. I went and checked out their more recent record, The Open Door.

Fast forward a few months and I'm here in front of my computer at some stupid time in the morning writing a review for it. To be frank, The Open Door just straight out wipes the floor with all their previous work. Sure, four years between one album and the next does seem a bit excessive, but you can hear the hard work put into it. This is surprising, because commercial bands in my experience don't put work into their stuff.. when I listen to a lot of these popular American bands they just straight out don't have the musical intricacies and uniqueness, as well as the compositional flair that is found in -good- bands. Of course after reading this paragraph you'd know what I'm getting at; Evanescence is a bit different in this ballpark.

The album opens with 'Sweet Sacrifice'. This is a strong starter and I really like the vocals in this song. I mean how often do I mention the vocals when I praise a song? So I guess this says something. At one glance and you can hear that this album is just overall heavier and has more substance than the last. The guitar work in Evanescence is bland at best, but that's not where the fun stuff is, at least in this band. I guess it should be noted that there is no real chorus in this song, and the part that is supposed to be a chorus just doesn't feel like one. That's something to note for song structures this time around.

'Call Me When You're Sober' I guess is one of the title tracks here. The lyrics are just really in your face, and you can't really interpret them in many ways besides what it is. I guess you could call this 'closed' lyrics. The guitar work as expected is not the best stuff in the world (although there seems to be some two-handed tapping this time around here and there) but the vocals just give the song that powerful, 'shut up and listen' feel. I like the bridge in this one.

'Weight of the World' continues the rock fest with a much more interesting drum pattern than usual. I'm not sure if Lee came up with it herself (it doesn't seem to be the norm), but it sure gives the song that extra punch. The riffs of course are nothing special, but they are effective. The chorus to this song is great, and the pre-chorus is a nice touch. The bridge leaves some to be desired but overall one of my favourite from this album.

Next one's a special one, 'Lithium' is a ballad instead of keeping the theme of the last three. This song only credits Lee as song-writer, and I'd say she did a commendable effort. The pinnacle of this song is the vocals, and seeing as Lee is a vocalist, that's what you'd expect. The 2nd pre-chorus all the way to the end is just one hell of a great ride. Of course, you'd need the slow, mellow beginning to build it up too. A lot of piano in this one as well as emotion, great track.

'Cloud Nine' is not the usual rock fest, and this is where I get at when I think 'wait, this shouldn't be in a commercial band's tracklist'. Because it just doesn't sound like something that would sell a million or two. The riffs are barebones, but the melodies and the singing is just something you don't hear on a radio everyday. The bridge is good in this one.

Another one that keeps the pattern of 'why is this even on here, you're a commercial band' is 'Snow White Queen'. This sort of rock is just unheard of on mainstream radio. Just nowhere near the usual pop rock fest that dominates the mainstream rock world, but just full of interesting melodies and great hooks. Overall a dark song; the bridge, as well as what was done for the last chorus is just straight out awesome stuff.

Now for the best track Evanescence has ever put out. No arguments here because it's just plain as day that it's their best track. 'Lacrymosa' is based on Mozart's Requiem 'Lacrimosa', yes that is a radical and groundbreaking name-change, but it's reasonable because the string and choir melodies are kept from the original, just with the Evanescence-rock touch. The song starts with the strings, as with the original, but it starts to change when the drums slowly come rocking in, as well as guitars. By the time the song has fully developed to the chorus, no epicness has been left out, it's just awesome stuff. What's even better is how the bridge was handled.. smashing in your damn face, powerful vocals on a time signature that doesn't seem like it's anything conventional is just a great touch to the song. The ending of the song is also handled very well, it's just plain done very well and.. well, epic.

Well unfortunately this is where the album starts to downhill roll itself. 'Like You' and 'Lose Control' leave much to be desired in terms of the benchmark that was set with Lacrymosa. Overall, 'Like You' is a weak song with pretty cheesy lyrics, though the bridge is one of my personal favourites, the chorus is simply not doing it for me and that itself makes up a majority of the song. 'Lose Control' has an interesting touch, as you can hear some whammy action with the guitar riffs, but overall the song could've been more polished and less 'okay this sounds good, lets just keep this for the next 5 minutes'.

'The Only One' is not exactly amazing, it honestly reminds me of their work from 'Fallen', which is by the way, not good. Overall that's not the vibes I'm getting, but I guess that so far, the chord progressions and overall sound from this album is just far from Fallen that anything remotely similar is just going ring a bell. Anywho, this isn't exactly a bad track, but it's not one of my favourites. I like the lyrics though, and how the guitars were handled during the chorus.

'Your Star' is great because it gives the album the feeling that it just came out of the hole that was 'Like You' and 'Lose Control'. This is truly one of their best work aside Lacrymosa. I hope that in their future releases they experiment and variate from this sound, but keeping the idea that was used. Here, the instrument work is at another level compared to their usual work. I guess this goes with Lee's pushing of her own abilities, but yes, she does actually sing and play those piano licks at the same time. And the guitar work is surprisingly much more intricate and interesting to listen to. The vocals are as usual, not a joke and you'd be in for some exciting melodies as the song progresses.

'All That I'm Living For' and 'Good Enough' are not fantastic tracks. They are not bad by any means, but they could've been handled a bit better. The chorus in the former track is just repetitive and gets boring after about half way because of how much it repeats. I guess the instrument work in the song isn't exactly shithole but it surely goes into some kind of 'hole' category. 'Good Enough' has a great intro combining strings and piano, which I think was composed separately from the actual song, but afterwards it just goes downhill. There certainly are better ballads by the band.

Overall, I think this post is fucking longer than the previous one where I said I wasn't going to post that long anymore. I guess I rambled on more about my own experiences this time rather than focusing on the topic, but anyway.. The Open Door is a good album. It starts off surprisingly good, reaches a global maximum, then plunges into some deep hole for a good few minutes before going back up again. At the end I guess it's at some mid point which is not very exciting however not exactly bad.

Compared to their previous work, this is just a really good effort, and it's just that much better than it that there's no point listening to the old songs anymore (even though they are infinitely more popular- oh wait, that's probably why it's not as good). It's clearly obvious that the band has much more freedom with the music this time around and composition-wise they are maturing. Could this mean decreasing sales figures in the future? Probably. The sound of the band is getting more and more interesting, the music is getting heavier and heavier and all for the better. As mentioned there is the one or two disappointing tracks but it doesn't detract from the overall experience. It's been years since this release, and I have high expectations for Evanescence next time around.