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| The Open Door | 
 enlarge | Artist: Evanescence
Label: Wind-Up
Category: Music
List Price: $18.97
Buy Used: $3.68
You Save: $15.29 (81%)
New (43) Used (43) Collectible (1) from $3.68
Avg. Customer Rating:  471 reviews
Sales Rank: 808
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.5 x 5 x 0.4
MPN: 31202
UPC: 601501312021
EAN: 0601501312021
ASIN: B000FTWB7G
Release Date: October 3, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Boring, safe pop/rock for soccer moms and teenyboppers January 7, 2007
10 out of 16 found this review helpful
Evanescence is one of those bands that the radio and MTV love to play incessantly, at any opportunity, on pretty much any format you can think of. There's something for the soft rock stations, something that passes as Alternative, something with a little hip-hop for the Urban stations - even a few cheesy ballads that have a vague Country air about them.
But does this make for good music? Absolutely not. It's all just unimaginative shallow pop pablum being served up to the masses. The label most often connected to Evanescence is "Gothic". Last time I checked, most bands that I think of as Goth don't play cheesy soft rock that could have been recorded by Celine Dion, and they don't have singers that sound like they're auditioning for some over the top Broadway show. It's only good if you think elevator music is where it's at.
Maybe the lyrics make up for their musical shortcomings? No, not at all. Glance at the song titles and right there you'll know that the songs are trite ("The Only One", "Like You"). "Lithium" features its title repeated seemingly 1000 times, and Amy Lee whines about not being loved, a recurrent theme throughout the entire album. Finally, check out the horrible lyrics in the chorus of the big single "Call Me When You're Sober" - "Don't cry to me, If you loved me, You would be here with me". That sounds like something out of a Hilary Duff song, and Lee sings like one of these generic pop divas, like a Christina Aguilera for instance. Don't believe the hype: Critics can make The Open Door sound like the nectar of the gods and the media can play these songs repeatedly, but that does not make this a good album - just a heavily publicized belly flop. Amy Lee is nothing more than Britney Spears with pretensions to artistry.
In closing: Observe if you will many of the profiles of the posters who sing the praises of Evanescence. Note that most of them only have one review to their credit. Hmmmm... perhaps the people that think Evanescence are so fantastic are saying so because they work for Wind-Up Records and want to boost sales any way they can? Some food for thought there. Don't trust them ... you would be better off going for an unbiased opinion instead. Evanescence is no different from the majority of mainstream pop today - it may be dressed up and marketed a different way, but it's every bit as shallow and safe as everything else out there. Look elsewhere for better music - The Decemberists, Mew, TV On The Radio and Silversun Pickups are bands with depth and substance.
A Good (But Not Great) Return from Evanescence. October 4, 2006
9 out of 16 found this review helpful
And it saddens me to have to say that. Evanescence are by far one the best female-led bands, in the music business. Their first album (Origin) was magnificent. Their followup (Fallen) was brilliant.
But their third effort (The Open Door) is sadly, only average.
The album for the most part, is constructed quite well. With songs ranging from melodic, to dark, to outright experimental. But somehow, it's missing something. Something that the previous 2 albums had, that "The Open Door", does not.
Perhaps Ben Moody? I think not!
The previous 2 albums, were heavily melodic. I enjoyed this about both the albums, and Evanescence. However "The Open Door", seems to consider melody, a second priority. Whereas it seemed to be put at the top of the priorities list, on the previous 2 albums. "The Open Door", mostly revolves around Amy's brilliant lyrics. But even this, is somewhat of a problem, because her lyrics have gotten kind of repetative, on this release.
I'm not saying they've gotten bland. Infact, far from it. They're still as beautifully written as ever. Even without Moody onboard. However, she seems to be bickering on about the same subjects over and over, on this release. Making the entire cd (nearly) seem like a single-subject concept album. Alot of the songs lyrics seem to be relationship-based. While this is okay on a few songs, it gets kind of repetative after awhile, to be perfectly honest.
But repetativeness set aside, "The Open Door", is a pretty good return from Amy and co. of Evanescence. And adding Terry Balsamo (formerly of the band COLD - another one of my personal favorite bands) to replace Ben Moody, only made the guitar-work seem better, and less traditional.
The overall sound of "The Open Door" is experimental. Some songs are melodic. Some songs are heavy. And some have newly-explored sounds, to them.
One track in particular (Snow White Queen) seems to be a half Rock, half Industrial song. Thus, we could call this Industrial-Rock. A new sound for Evanescence, quite possibly drawning influence from the Industrial-God himself, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. (Yes. You heard me right. The track "Snow White Queen" is very NIN-esque!) This track in particular, I like alot. Because it's very experimental, and sounds as if it draws inspiration from Trent Reznor (my Idol), in one way or another.
I'm not going to review each and every song. Every review does this, so i'm going to choose not to. However, I will mention some of the better songs on the album.
They are:
01 - Snow White Queen (Great song. Creepy. Melodic chorus.)
02 - Lacrymosa (Chilling. Beautiful. Great buildup.)
03 - Lithium (Beautiful song. Great lyricism. Awesome chorus.)
If you're a fan of Evanescence, a dedicated one I mean, and have an open mind, you just may thuroughally enjoy "The Open Door". Despite the fact that Ben Moody is gone, and that the overall existence of melody has been toned down a bit, and replaced with experimentation.
But if you're not. Consider getting this album anyway. Just to hear what all the fuss is about, with Evanescence. Amy's writing is still brilliant. The songs are still well constructed. And the overall performance deserves atleast an "A-".
Lack of melody, and repetative lyricism made me knock off a star. But overall, i'm satisfied with my purchase of "The Open Door". I went into it with an open mind, and found myself enjoying it.
You'll like it. However, you may not love it.
But don't let that stop you from buying it.
4/5 stars.
Not perfect. But a good return from Amy and co.
Can't wait to hear this stuff, played live.
 Very sad by this follow up... October 5, 2006
9 out of 18 found this review helpful
I'm saddened to say, as a huge fan of Evanescence's last album, this one was a horrible follow up. The music is ok (and when I say music is ok, I usually do not bother buying the cd), but the production was just horrible. The singing and guitar work are totally off note from each other in the majority of the songs, and the beats mixed with vocals just do not work. Instead of sounding "goth" rock, or darker, they just sound shrill and whiney. Aside from some "ok" songs like "Lacrymosa" and "Like You", which have an essence of the old Evanescence, the rest of the album just made me sit there angry because it was so horrible. Now don't get me wrong, as I said, I loved "Fallen", but this is a far cry from what I enjoyed off of the last album. Some fans that are new to this band may enjoy this cd, but I cannot for the life of me see how any one who enjoyed "Fallen" can even compare these two albums. What I find on "The open door" is Amy Lee with an extremely whiney voice, compiled with completely average guitar and instrumental work. I hate to say it, but I think this band now lives up to their last album, they have "Fallen" in my eyes.
 It grows on you, trust me. October 5, 2006
9 out of 13 found this review helpful
Okay, I am like many reviewers, sick of seeing those reviews put up five minutes after someone listened to the first thirty seconds of each song and said to themselves "it doesn't sound like "fallen", oh no! I shall complain and cry to myself!" Yeah. Well, if they listened to each song, while reading the lyrics as the song played, like I did to Fallen the first night I bought it, then they would adore each and every one of these songs like they did to Fallen.
Now, enough with complaints and onward to the review. Here's a basic song by song review, but before I continue: I have read every review here for fun, and in every opinion, there is a different OPINION, which is the point of an opinion. One review said they loved this song yet hated that song, then the next two reviewers hated the first person's loved song and loved the hated song; compare all the reviews, everyone likes and hates different styles of music, and luckily Evanescence has a great many song styles, for everyone to love!
1. Sweet Sacrifice - A catchy tune to have to hear first off the bat. I put it in my CD player in my car and it was hardcore and catchy, a good decision to start off the CD. As I listened to the others later on, I realized it wasn't the best, but it wasn't designed to be the best, it was an attention grabber, and it works. 9/10
2. Call Me When You're Sober - Ah, the beloved "single", which most reviewers argued was overrated. Well, it is like all the other songs, different from Fallen, so get used to it. If you can't deal with this song, you'll have to deal with all the others, as they are all different, which is good. The music video is amazing, by the way. Nice blend in this song, it differs vocally throughout the song, all the way to the end, not being the same like many songs by ANY artist nowadays, just using the same chorus over and over again. 9/10
3. Weight of the World - Didn't care for it at first, but it has grown on me like the others. This is why I am writing the second night after I bought it, I cannot write right after I buy something, it is too prejudice an opinion with so little information. Good heavy song, catchy vocals if you can understand Amy Lee, since she seems to blend words more in this album, perhaps singing too fast, I dunno. 8/10
4. Lithium - One of my favs. I loved the beginning where it appeared to be a piano solo, then suddenly BOOOOOM the rock starts and I was headbanging already. It has acoustics, piano, heavy music, good vocals, and is my seconds favorite song on the CD. It has it all. 11/10
5. Cloud Nine - Sort of haunted vocals and background music and chorus....I didn't like it to begin with and still am iffy about it. I just can't get as used to the anger she sings with in this song, you can feel it in her voice. Not one of the strongest vocal performances at the beginning, but the good part starts after the first minute of haunting music. Just that haunting part takes off a point for me. 7/10
6. Snow White Queen - Most do not know what to think, but I listened to it repeatedly since I love it to death. I always have a rule where I rank my top three favorite songs, and then the rest tie for fourth place since they are so awesome...well, if I DIDN'T do that, this would BE fourth place, it is such a good song. Catchy, especially at the end, and it uses a different sort of tone for the song. 10/10
7. Lacrymosa - My favorite of all! Mix of classical music (violins, woot!) and vocals propell this song. Chorus comes on strong and backs Amy up a lot, which I loved. Then it gets a tad bit hardcore toward the latter half of the song, which I adored totally. Reminded me sort of like Fallen's material, easy to catch the tune and recognize a hit. 12/10
8. Like You - Sort of soft for me. I heard several say it was their favorite, but I didn't think the second half of the CD after Lacrymosa had as good lyrics (and the song titles make me sick, like THIS one). The lyrics are not up to par, in my opinion. 7/10
9. Lose Control - The same ones that said "Like You" was their favorite hated this song. I was one of those that was the opposite, instead favoring this haunting song. It is virtually the same throughout except at the end it picks up, only to end....but there are enough hardcore songs, so it's alright for this one to not rock as hardcore. 9/10
10. The Only One - My absolute third favorite song. This one is as good as the other two favs of mine. It reminds me of my old favorite Ev song, "Missing", where Amy HAD to of recorded herself multiple times to get her voice doing what it does (either that or a backup vocalist sounds like her). Perfect mix of rock, and it SOUNDS EXACTLY like it belongs on Fallen, it has even MORE Fallen quality than Lacrymosa did! - 11/10
11. Your Star - Starts out rather bland, but picks up rapidly, but even though I hate the title, the lyrics are better than a couple of the latter half of the CD's songs. I'll get used to it, but mostly I agree with other reviewers: not up to par with other material on this CD. 7/10
12. All That I'm Living For - Mr. John LeCompt himself wrote this one and helped majorly, and it shows. He rocks the entire song out, and I loved it! It reminded me of Sweet Sacrifice since it begins strong and remains strong throughout, and it would have been a nice opener as well. Even though it's not the last song, I myself like to think Evanescence began with a rocking song and ended with one, since Amy Lee probably just added the last song for the heck of it, since it is so simple. 10/10
13. Good Enough - 10/10 up front. Just another perfect piano piece with miss Lee herself, great vocals, but nothing compares to My Immortal and Breathe No More, in my opinion, but this comes third in the list of Piano solos (actually I think there are only three, but meh it still rocks). 10/10
Buy the CD, it will not disappoint you unless you are already expecting disappointment. Give it a few days to sink it, it's not a clone of Fallen, think of it as a new band's debut CD, if you want to not feel prejudiced over it. Thanks for reading, hope you buy the CD and enjoy it.
Total Trash! October 6, 2006
9 out of 24 found this review helpful
This cd is nothing like Fallen, with the exception of maybe 2 songs. The rest of it just feels like it drags on and is just one extremely long song. If you liked Fallen, don't get this cd!
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