You remember Evanescence, right? They were that band that came out a while ago, tore up rock/pop music, and left for a good amount of time? Until just recently, I had completely forgotten about the Amy Lee-fronted rock band. But with the recent resurgence of their first hit, “Bring Me To Life,” I decided to dive back into the dramatic rock band once more. Of course, there had to be an album before I could do anything.

Their self titled return album couldn’t come at a better time; with all the electronic pop music that has come out in the past year alone, it’s nice to hear some instruments being played on pop radio stations now and again. However, this album isn’t anything close to their previous works. Instead, it’s putting the incredible voice of Amy Lee behind power chords, and hoping something good comes out of it.

The album starts off with their lead single, “What You Want,” a decent welcome back track, filled with power chords and mediocre instrumentation. The next five songs basically followed the same formula; overly hard guitars that seem to bring down the great vocal work of Amy Lee. The exception was “My Heart Is Broken,” which featured good piano work from Lee herself, but would eventually gets buried under the guitars and drums.

The second half of the album (starting with “Erase This”) is miles ahead of the first. It welcomes the piano with open arms, showcasing how versatile Amy Lee is as not only a front-woman, but as an artist in her own right. “Lost in Paradise” is a beautiful rock ballad, with a sort of “Lithium” tone to it, while not feeling recycled. “Erase This” is a great pop song, with the driving force being the piano rather than the guitar doing the work (to that, I say ‘good’). The rest, however still better than the first half, is the same formula as before.

There is no question of who carries this band. Amy Lee’s voice can embody a great pop sound (“What You Want”), or can be dark and chilling (“Swimming Home”). Accompanied by her piano playing, which is by itself incredible, she puts all of the power chords and repetitive drum parts on her back and keeps pushing forward. “Lost in Paradise” is a perfect example of that; with an orchestra backing her up and the unfortunate addition of her band coming in later, she puts out a great performance that would be a treat to listen to live.

I wish Amy Lee could go on her own. Even if it was just her, the piano, and an orchestra, I’d pay money to listen to it. But she is Evanescence, whether I like them or not.

Evanescence sits in a weird spot when it comes to rock music. They’re incredibly pop friendly like Paramore, dark and chilling like Marilyn Manson, and the repetitiveness of Sick Puppies. The album has plenty of moments (the second half is WAY better than the first, in my opinion), but none of them saves this record from being a “pick-and-chooser.” Evanescence’s return album isn’t bad, just bland. Each song sound reminiscently similar, which makes it hard to pick out a favorite without confusing myself with another one of their songs. Amy Lee is still one of the premiere singers of the pop-goth-rock generation, and would probably have a very successful single career if she opted to have one. But for now, she’ll be putting out what I will only assume to be Hot Topic’s soundtrack for the rest of the year.

Final Grade: C

Go Download: “Lost in Paradise”