Reviews: Evanescence, Band Of Spice, Day Of The Jackal, Marasmus (Reviews By Simon Black, Paul Hutchings, Matt Bladen & Richard Oliver)

Evanescence - The Bitter Truth (BMG) [Simon Black]

Evanescence seem to be one of those all-important ‘marmite’ bands that crop up from time to time. The devout Metalhead on principle dismisses them because they aren’t really Metal, but to the wider population this is as Metal as their music collection gets. And this band has one of ‘those’ albums that ubiquitously crossed the aisles into popular music consciousness when their huge selling debut Fallen was released back in 2003. Since that time and despite that unrepeated initial huge multi-platinum success they have been remarkably un-prolific in their output for most of their career and only fairly recently having upped the ante and started producing outputs in a more conventional and regular album cycle after their lengthy hiatus in the mid 2010’s. 

This album is clearly and distinctly Evanescence, but anyone expecting a straight reboot of that initial era is going to be disappointed. Long gone are the Nu-Metal tropes of Bring Me To Life (which by all accounts was the consequence of a record label struggling to cope with the concept of a female singer in a heavy rock act). This is a much more mature and crafted piece of music, that plays on the signature sound of Amy Lee’s haunting and emotive voice and takes the whole Symphonic, epic feel and runs with it to a slightly different place. For a start musically although in general the overdriven guitar sound is more Rock rather than down-tuned and dirty crunchy Metal, there are some really heavy moments in here. 

To achieve variety whilst retaining the distinctive sound is a credit to the careful song-crafting that has gone into this record and to be honest the only real weak point for me was the initially released Wasted On You which struck me as a little obvious, but perhaps coming from the heavier end of the spectrum I am not the intended recipient. Use My Voice was an obvious single, and it’s got the kind of catchy layered vocal melody hook that tends to grow your audience, so is definitely a good choice for the lead track even though it crops up quite late in the album running order. Added to this there is a much more strongly political streak to the subject matter, with the dark tone of Use My Voice in particular being a million miles away from the Emo-rock appeal the band had in their infancy. 

What’s more scary is that this song could have been written about events in the US Capitol even though it was released last year. Equally commercial but much more likely appeal to the heavier tracks are liberally interspersed throughout though – from the faux Industrial beat of Better Without You and the sharp weight of Broken Pieces Shine this album does deliver the goods and I find myself happy to keep playing rather than moving on to the next item in the slush pile. Lee’s voice as always is not always the focus here and the instruments often take the prime spot in the mix, which really helps with the atmospherics and mood. Bands like this are crucial to the Metal world, whether some corners of the community respect this or not. 

Without acts with broader appeal that open up the heavier end of the musical spectrum to people who might not otherwise have listened to heavy music, then our ranks will dwindle. Back in 1991 the Metal community initially derided Metallica’s ‘black album’, but it propelled the band and heavy music in general to a whole new level and brought many new fans to the fold who then found they were open to trying more extreme stuff. That cannot be a bad thing, and neither is this record which is definitely one of those growers. 8/10

Band Of Spice - By The Corner Of Tomorrow (Scarlet Records) [Paul Hutchings]