Major success is a tough act to follow. Selling 6 million copies of its first major label studio album, Fallen, and delivering the mega hits "Bring Me to Life" and "My Immortal", Evanescence and front-woman Amy Lee return with the hard charging new album, The Open Door. Despite Ben Moody's acrimonious departure, Terry Balsamo has made a great songwriting pair with Lee. Drawing its strength from hard guitar riffs and Lee's soaring voice, the record offers quite a few nuggets of pure rock bliss, enough to get your head banging and your stereo blasting.

Opening track "Sweet Sacrifice" flat out rocks, its thundering guitars matching perfectly with Amy Lee's towering voice. "Call Me When You're Sober" is an wonderfully angry song with dual guitars trading rhythm and melody lines. "Weight of the World" is a fast paced rocker that isn't too distinctive. "Lithium" is a nice piano ballad with strings showcasing Amy Lee's vocal and lyrical range. "Snow White Queen" is chaotic and disorganized, but the classically influenced "Lachrymosa" is fantastic, a bizarrly fascinating mix of strings, guitar, piano, and choir that just flat out soars. This song would be a perfect addition to any soundtrack.

"Like You", a mid-tempo piano-based track, smartly keeps the guitars in the back of the mix until the crescendo. "Weight of the World" and "Cloud Nine" are solid up-tempo rockers laced with grinding guitar work while "All That I'm Living For" and "Good Enough" are more piano-based emotional tracks. "Lose Control" has a dark piano melody that bursts into crunching guitar on the chorus. "The Only One" is a dark ode that is one of the strongest songs on the album emotionally.

Strongly produced to take full advantage of Lee's towering voice, The Open Door is full of growling guitar riffs and emotive piano melodies. The songwriting is solid, and in some cases, exceptional. The loss of Ben Moody is more than made up by the songwriting team of Lee and Balsaro, and this album is one sure to please Evanescence fans and make some converts with some of the singles. Recommended.

A.G. Corwin

St.Louis, MO

Evanescence has been through a lot since its major label debut "Fallen" rocked the charts in 2003. Songwriter/guitarist Ben Moody departed from the band on account of personal and creative differences with lead singer Amy Lee and has since moved on to work with other artists (Avril Lavigne, Kelly Clarkson), and Lee herself has been at the heart of a well-publicized sexual harassment lawsuit. At long last, however, the band's long-anticipated "The Open Door" has arrived, having debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts.

While Lee is flanked by talented musicians, she is now the indisputable centerpiece of the band, which was inevitable from the beginning. She wrote all the tracks either solo or in tandem with the band's new guitarist, Terry Balsamo, and staking a clear assertion of independence. From her impassioned vocals to her forthright lyrics, it is clear to see she has a lot to get off her chest.

Lead single "Call Me When You're Sober" seems at once like yet another Kelly Clarkson radio hit, but this actually works well, striding the line between catchy pop and mainstream rock. Constant airplay has not diluted the song's appeal as it continues to air out Lee's frustrations with Shaun Morgan, her ex-boyfriend and lead singer of rock band Seether. "Lithium," the second single, channels Sarah McLachlan with piano/vocal simplicity before the guitar riffs surge, beckoning the psychiatrist's couch with its deep, dark gloom.

The album's opening track, "Sweet Sacrifice," however, is extremely radio friendly, with a downright awesome hook and sharp lyrics to boot. Meanwhile, the lower-key duo of "Your Star" and "Like You" ruminates with such cryptic observations ("I'd like to be like you/Lie cold in the ground like you") that comparisons to the psyche of Emily Dickinson would be justified.

Elsewhere, "Weight of the World" paves the path for a new future, finding Lee declaring "I won't be held down by who I used to be," while "Snow White Queen" recounts sexual abuse.

"You belong to me/My snow white queen/There's nowhere to run, so lets just get it over/Soon I know you'll see/You're just like me/Don't scream anymore my love, `cause all I want is you."

The album concludes starkly with "Good Enough," finding Lee at her most vulnerable as she puts her guard down, declaring "I've completely lost myself and I don't mind/I can't say no to you."

Listeners who enjoyed "Fallen" will by more than pleased with "The Open Door." The songwriting might not be as refined with Lee steering the ship almost entirely on her own, but she more than compensates for it with ardor and artistic devotion.

To start with, this is not a carbon copy of Fallen. Not by a long shot. The departure of Ben Moody left a huge mark on this band, and they are better for it. Amy Lee is now much more free and able to be more creative. The songs on this album are richer, more vibrant, more emotional, and simply better than the ones on Fallen (and all of Evanescence's pre-Fallen material as well). Everything this band does seems to be better than their previous efforts.

Tracks

Sweet Sacrifice - Amy Lee has declared that this will be the third single from the album. This is a scathing, guitar-driven song that opens the door with a bang. Terry Balsamo, Ben Moody's replacement, immediately makes his presence (and superiority to Moody) known.

Call Me When You're Sober - the lead single from the album. This was a great choice as the first single from this CD because it is something of a bridge between the band's sound on Fallen and their sound on The Open Door.

Weight of the World - another crunching anthem in which Amy Lee's angelic voice carries the lyrics over the guitars as if they are floating.

Lithium - the second single from the album. It has a very atmospheric and cool video with lyrics that are the pinncale of what it means to be Evanescence - laced with sadness and misery, yet at the same time hopeful and carrying a positive message. Nobody can pull this off the way Amy Lee does.

Cloud Nine - rather than having the vocals and guitars seem to be trying to outduel each other as the focal point of the song, this track allows one to take the lead for a while then shifts to the other.

Snow White Queen - Amy Lee loves the story of Snow White. Here she tells the story of a stalker from the point of view of both the stalker and the stalked, using the "Snow White Queen" as the image for the individual being hunted. Moving and beautiful.

Lacrymosa - a truly experimental song that pays off big time. Equal parts Mozart and metal. The band's desire to take risks results in this operatic anthem that borders on over the top cheesiness yet manages to walk the fine line between that and elegance.

Like You - similar to Hello from Fallen, this is Amy Lee's tribute to her departed sister.

Lose Control - here we hear a much different side of Amy Lee. This song is about an affair, and uses Mary's lamb ("his eyes black as coals") as a metaphor for the cheating man. Lee sings from the point of view of someone that has been restrained and desires to break free.

The Only One - smoothly slides between quieter parts and frenetic guitars without missing a beat.

Your Star - the simple piano at the beginning of this song makes the energy and intensity reached by its end that much more shocking, impressive, and engaging.

All That I'm Living For - rocks out in a manner similar to that of Sweet Sacrifice. The last taste of metal on the album.

Good Enough - The Open Door is about freedom, opportunity, and, ultimately, the hope for happiness. Amy Lee allows herself to be happy in this peaceful song filled with beautiful imagery that is carried by the power of her vocals.

I couldn't wait for Amy to release her second album and quickly pre-ordered it on iTunes. I wasn't quickly in love with "Call Me When You're Sober" upon first hearing it. I was expecting something like "Bring Me To Life" instead. After a few times hearing it on the radio and listening to it while jogging, it quickly grew on me and I couldn't stop playing it!

Once the album became available for download I rushed to get it. Again, I didn't take to the new album right off the bat. It sounded a bit tweaked from "Fallen" (which is what I was expecting again). After listening through the whole album I was convinced that Amy had churned out another smash album. If your debut album makes you, your sophmore album could potentially break you. This album rocks you to the core while delivering soothing ballads in "Lithium", "Good Enough", and "The Last Song I'm Wasting On You".

It's rare that I like the whole album of an artist. This is one of those rare exceptions. What I'd like to see is a collaboration between Amy Lee and Cristina Scabbia (Lacuna Coil). That would be something...

When Evanescence fans found out about Ben Moody, half of the creative team that developed the earth-shattering Fallen album, had left the band, we were very nervous as to the future of the group. Not only were we worried it would never feel the same with a different band member, but we wondered if the band would never come up with comparable material for their next album and fall into obscurity. However, Amy Lee explained that she and Ben were butting heads because he wanted the band to have a more accessible sound, and she wanted the band to go in a much more creative direction. Obviously, she was telling the absolute truth. This album boldly steps out of the neat, organized box that Fallen had established.

In The Open Door, Amy Lee has not only managed to outdo her previous lyrics, but she has also continued in the direction she promised she would: continuing to explore the sounds of classical music and integrating them into metal. Many artists claim to have "classical influence" in their albums because they put in a string orchestra here, a chorus there, but do not truly understand that classical music is about much more than instrumentation. Amy, however, shows that she is seriously committed to showcasing the advanced harmonies and melodies that are usually exclusive to more sophisticated types of music. The Open Door is certainly no accessible listen. It takes very musically mature ears to be able to appreciate this masterpiece of an album. Dissonances are used to make consonances sound all the more beautiful, the chord progressions and sonorities are much more daring, and the use of the orchestra and chorus is astounding.

Simply put, Evanescence has just made musical history. This album shows that the band lives and breathes the statement made in "Everybody's Fool". This album will surely never top the sales of their debut album, and that's a good thing. The quality of one's audience is far superior to the quantity.