Review of Fallen by Evanescence ****

Let’s Just Call Her Token.

There aren’t a whole lot of women playing heavy music.  The distortion on this album seems to be an immediate turn off to many women.  So, is it true; you have seen one woman, you have seen them all?  Well I wouldn’t got that far.  Evanescence is a female driven band that is essentially metal.  They aren’t the first, but in my opinion they are the best of the female metal bands, and I have seen a few, such as Crisis, as the opening act for Dying Fetus.  I even owned a Crisis album, which wasn’t all that great.

In technicality, Evanescence is only average, but the meaningful lyrics and passionate song writing on this album help overcome its simplicity.  I feel so much emotion when I hear her sings like, “My God, my tourniquet, return to me salvation,” capturing some of the dark and more painful parts of religion, such as might be found in the book of Lamentations.  The songs sound original, and there a whole lot of good songs on this album.  You can listen to it from start to finish, without skipping tracks.

I won’t let it change my review of this album, but I got to see them live once when they played a fest and I have to admit that I was a little disappointed, but I was disappointed with the whole show almost in its entirety.  I guess that I had hoped for Evanescence to drop the techno sounds that they often use, and just have musicians playing the parts.  I don’t like paying money to go to shows to hear prerecorded.  The only redeeming act at the fest were the closers, Dropkick Murphy’s.  The popularity of Dropkick Murphy’s is a mystery to me.  My wife had one of their albums, and I thought it was terrible.  I guess what made Dropkick Murphy’s so cool was that so many people were into them at the show.  It was the Boston area after all, and Dropkick Murphy’s is band the frequently advertises that they are from Boston.