From the land of Billy C., Little Rock, Arkansas, we have newcomer Evanescence. If you’re wondering about the C., it stands for Clinton. Anyway, when I first put this CD in my player, and it is not the original, but a CDR copy from a friend, I immediately noticed a big similarity to Italy's, Lacuna Coil. Others may disagree, but this was my first impression, right down to the voice of Amy Lee, lead singer of the band. I was also reminded of Michelle Loose from Brave, in the voice, but not their music. Evanescence describes their music as epic, dramatic, dark rock. Except they left out one thing. Should have said epic pop or dramatic pop, or dark pop. Whichever way you slice it, this is pop, devoted to the radio play audience. But this is not by any means, a criticism. To the contrary, this album, for a debut, is very good. I'm sure that, even Lacuna Coil get a fair amount of radio play in their home country and are very popular on the Italian charts.

This album consists of 11 tracks of short Gothic pop ballads with allot of atmosphere and chugging guitar. Only one song, the last one, ventures over the five-minute mark. Another testament to the AOR reference. Amy Lee has a very marketable voice and I can see why this band has become somewhat of a sensation here in the states. The Second track "Bring Me Back To Life" is probably the song that is a hit on the radio. I wouldn't know, though, for I never listen to the radio. But this is the track that reminds me most of Lacuna Coil. Sounds to me like a leftover track from "In A Reverie". With it's female/ male trade-off's in the vocals. Very similar to what Christina Scabbia and Andrea Ferro did for that album. Male vocals for this song are by guest vocalist Paul McCoy of 12 Stones and the song is also featured in the movie "Daredevil". "My Immortal", the fourth track, is where I here the reference I made to Michelle Loose. It is a very nice solemn song, that might be found somewhere on any Brave album. A very nice sobering tune, with a nice piano and violin in places. The album is full of a mixture of some light tracks as well as mostly heavy tracks. And the heavy tracks really stand out best. As the album progresses, they never lose that Lacuna Coil flavor in the songs, as far as I'm concerned. They are a very talented unit and I believe they are going to be a force to be reckoned with future releases. If Lacuna Coil was an influence in their music, they don't say, but is still a good place to start.

Amy and guitarist Ben Moody are listed at the web site as co-founders of the band. John LeCompt-Guitar and Rocky Grey-Drums round out the instrumentation of the band. Allot of reviewer's have likened Amy to Tori Amos or Bjork. That's probably cause they never heard of Christina Scabbia. Well all I have to tell them, is, I never heard of the other two. I'm really not a fan of either, so I can't make a comparison to Miss Lee. But I am a big fan of Lacuna Coil, have been, since they began. And if you are a fan of either of the two bands I have mentioned in this review, I think you will also like Evanescence debut "Fallen".