[Art]

Tracks
1. Going Under
2. Bring Me To Life
3. Everybody's Fool
4. My Immortal
5. Haunted
6. Tourniquet
7. My Imaginary
8. Taking Over Me
9. Hello
10. My Last Breath
11. Whisper

For more on Evanescence, click here.

I LVOE EVANESCENCE! they are really good. i had first heard of them from the daredevil soundtrack. i didn't realize they were christian until later, and i was kinda skeptical at first too... but i've read interviews and stuff where they profess to be christians and while some of their lyrics don't talk about God, others do.. they don't as much as i would if it were me, but you can't judge by that.....

[Kori]

BEST CD! BEST BAND!
Get it. It kicks. I rate it 10.
Best song(s) = My Last Breath, Imaginary, Going Under
My Immortal is a good soft song. eerily beautiful.

When I first heard Evanescence's music, it was an MP3 my boyfriend sent to me--Bring Me to Life. After listening to the first chorus, I began crying and knew I had not stumbled onto your average hard rock band. At first, I was shocked by the Christian symbolism in their chart-topper, but then assumed that they are lost individuals, like myself, who find themselves in need of a savior. After listening to Tourniquet and hearing "Christ" and "return to me salvation," I mused that they were Christian at one time and have wandered or walked away from the truth.

It also sounds to me like their recent interviews have been an attempt to sever themselves from a wimpy Christian subculture that wants to draw a hard line between 'Christian' and not. As I see it, all of us--saved sinners and sinners are looking for redemption, immortal love, true life. Evanescence is writing powerful songs about this search and everyone is attracted to it. While I don't find their music worshipful or incredibly uplifting, I feel like it gives vent to the questions that my soul is still screaming.

Evanescence is a band that I would recommend to all people--on either side of the cross. We know that those who seek will find God, so let's pray that Evanescence will continue to ask the hard questions and that they will get the true answers in Truth Himself.

In Christ,
Amerz

The last post said something interesting - that "While I don't find their music worshipful or incredibly uplifting, I feel like it gives vent to the questions that my soul is still screaming". This is interesting because the mood among American Christians is that somehow needs to be explicitly worshipful in order for it to be uplifting - meaning people are defining worship and uplifting somewhat narrowly. I find the song "Bring me to life" very uplifting, because for me it describes a period in my life where I asked some of these questions and believed some of these same things:
"Bound at every limb by my shackles of fear
Sealed with lies through so many tears
Lost from within, pursuing the end
I fight for the chance to be lied to again

You will never be strong enough
You will never be good enough
You were never conceived in love
You will not rise above"

and also the point at which I realized my need for a savior - that he was in the middle of my aweful situation -

"how can you see into my eyes like open doors
leading you down into my core
where I’ve become so numb without a soul my spirit sleeping somewhere cold
until you find it there and lead it back home..."

These aren't necessarily edifying in the classical (stunted) development of the word, but they are an intense reminder for me of A) what the world asks, and B) what ever believer has had to grapple with (assuming faith has been tested) and what I had to grapple with during a very painful time in my life.
The edifying element that I assert is first found in their solution to the dilemna within several of their songs:

"frozen inside without your touch without your love darling only you are the life among the dead"

And secondly, the part that is edifying is the reminder that we came from the place of lies - we, in some sense or another, made the realizations semi-alluded to in Bring me to Life. This is edifying because it reminds us of the massive change we have experienced, the amazing work of grace on our lives - the reality and testimony of which we in turn can bring to the world.

SC

[Coyote_Spirit]

<----- Agrees with the last two posts.

[meatfinger]

I gave it an eight. One demerit for crappy lyrics, one demerit for not sounding pretty repetetive. But it's a very enjoyable disc.

[Sean]

I split the faith debate off and sent it over to the Evanscence forum. This thread is for reviews, not discussion or debate.

[anathema]

i give it a 2.
pretty recycled and unoriginal, too much so for my taste. Not to mention the music bieng watered down for the sake of 'top 40 radio'.
*anathema*

[Enjoi_Lyfe]

I rate it a 9. I bought it today and listened to it 2 or 3 times through on the way home from Texarkana. For my Stand out tracks are My Immortal, Tourniquet, and Whisper...I really enjoy the guitar on Imaginary! I personally enjoy Paul McCoy on Bring Me To Life. They have a sweet blend together and I enjoy the lyrics. On some of the songs the lyrics are a bit lacking but the guitar riffs make up for it! Buy it whenever you have some spare cash!

Evanescence is not a christian band,
they decided not to be labelled as a christian band .THEY ARE THE MOST SHAMEFUL BAND OF THE WHOLE WORLD.
They say they don't want to be associated with christian music at all. I saw an interview they made and they and they swore a lot and talked like any other secular band.
ChristianRock.net, a christian radio on the internet, was asked to take out the song 'bring me to life' out of the playlist because the band asked to. I'm proud it's not christianand that,as a christian, I am not associated with such music, because it really sucks.

[Jonular]

Regardless of their Christianity, which would be shallow, their music is another nu-metal band. But they have a female vocalist, a female with a very very strong voice. That is what makes Eva unique.

They get a 5. Cool music, lousy interviews.

~Jon

[bossman]

it's just sad that they seem to have turned their backs on christianity, saying "I don't know why we were in those *beeping* christians stores in the first place." sad...

[Jacob_Duhm]

First off, I don't consider Evanescence a "christian band." While some of the lyrics have what appear to be Christian themes, there are little undertones here and there that make me think they're not a "unoffically christian" band, like Lifehouse.
Aside from this content aspect, "Fallen" represets, I think, an incredibly well-made modern rock album. Who ever Amy Lee's voice coach was, he deserves a medal! The etheal, dark mood of the music gives it an intense edge that appeals to me, and as I mentioned before, Amy Lee has a great voice. High notes or low notes, she can hit them all without any hint of strain or cracking.
Standout tracks: "Everybody's Fool" "Hello" "Haunted" and, of course, "Bring Me To Life," which sparked my interest in the album.
Think Hard Think Well
Jacob

I think we're missing something here. I saw Ingmar Bergman's "Seventh Seal" when I was fifteen, and it was waaay cool. In the midst of a cold Sweden of the Middle Ages swept by plague and doubt in the Grace of the Lord, this simple Christian minstrel couple and their baby end up being the only survivors of a meeting with Death. I think that yeah, that this is a Christian movie. Yet, it deals with darker themes that some more straitlaced evangelicals would have trouble with.

I feel the same way about Evanescence. They may have distanced themselves from Christianity, but who says the Lord may not use the lyrics of some of their songs to bring some people to the realisation that there is emptiness in one's life without the saving power of Christ within us? Particularly "Tourniquet," which sounds explicitly Christian to me. It's one of the best pro-life/anti-suicide songs I've ever come across!

Grace!

Tonia R.