Review Summary: In their debut album, We Are The Fallen serves up thirteen gothic-inspired tracks which will almost certainly appeal to fans of early Evanescence.
We Are The Fallen is not Evanescence.
We Are The Fallen is not Evanescence.
We Are The Fallen is not Evanescence.
We Are The Fallen is not Evanescence.
...
We Are The Fallen is kind of Evanescence.
If you're not familiar with the events which led to the formation of We Are The Fallen, here's a quick recap. Back in 2003, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, a certain five-piece goth-inspired pop/slightly Christian metal act from Arkansas released their ubiquitous debut album, Fallen. Despite the fact that the record pretty much dripped angst, it was a huge success (seven times platinum as of this writing) and catapulted the group into the spotlight. Shortly after, co-founder Ben Moody left the band after a series of heated disagreements with frontwoman Amy Lee and subsequently faded from the spotlight for several years. Evanescence released its second studio album, The Open Door, in 2006, after the departure of bassist Will Boyd. Early the next year, guitarist John LeCompt and drummer Rocky Gray left the group (for those of you keeping score, this leaves Amy Lee as the only original member left in the band). Replacements were hired with the departure of each member, and Evanescence has continued to tour but has yet to release a third album.
Fast-forward to 2010, and We Are The Fallen, a new band whose lineup includes the aforementioned Moody, LeCompt, and Gray (as well as bassist Marty O'Brien and lead vocalist Carly Smithson), released its debut, Tear The World Down. Evanescence fans were quick to take note of numerous similarities between the two bands (everything from the group's members to their sound to the very name of the band), and, as angsty young nu metal fans so often do, turned the whole thing into a heated debate over which group deserved their loyalty.
Musically, Tear The World Down really does sound a lot like Fallen. The basic formula - a female voice over heavy guitar sounds and orchestral and choral elements - remains unchanged. Former American Idol contestant Carly Smithson's incredible vocals are the most obvious change, but overall the band hasn't provided anything groundbreaking on this album. Many of the tracks recall highlights from Fallen - piano ballad "Sleep Well, My Angel" has been referred to as a follow-up to Evanescence's "My Immortal", while title track "Tear The World Down" is highly reminiscent of "Whisper" - and, although the group experiments with a more stripped-down instrumental feel on "I Am Only One" and includes an epic (if rather unfaithful) cover of Madonna's "Like A Prayer" as a bonus track, most of the album is still filled with the same kind of music that was released back in 2003.
Although it doesn't contain anything particularly life-changing, Tear The World Down will not disappoint fans who still pine for the kind of music that Evanescence hasn't managed to recreate since Moody's departure several years ago. The new band shows a lot of promise, especially given the addition of Smithson to their lineup, but whether or not they will break out of their comfort zone in the future and begin to create new music remains to be seen.
