melody without a heart

Beautiful Lie- I quite liked this one! Strong opener. Made me go "holy production Batman"

Tell Me When You've Had Enough- my instant fave the chorus made me kick my feet

Who Will You Follow- one of the two singles. I like this one a lottt but since this isn't my first impression of it I don't have much to say

Rapture- I can tell this one is going to take a few listens for me to digest the weirder parts but I wouldn't be surprised if it shot up to being in my top 3 from the album

Afterlife- second single. We've had this one the longest and I don't care for it. Also the DMC show is bad apparently LOLL

Sanctuary- when I inevitably buy the CD of this album, the intro of this one is always going to tempt me to skip it but I'll power through because the rest of it is very good

How Do I Heal- I low-key had a religious experience listening to this guys they made my immortal 2

About Us- oof I do NOT like the intro (I'm gonna cringe every time I hear that "daddy") but the bridge saved it for me. I got goosebumps lol

Calm Down- I'm pretty meh on the melody especially during the chorus but the instrumental is carrying

Self Destruct- I'm also meh on this one but hellooo strings I was wondering where you were on this evanescence album. The song will prob grow on me

Forever Without You- prob my least favorite. First half made me scared it was a worship song LMAO (they are NOT beating the Christian band allegations even though they literally are because they're not a Christian band, guys, tourniquet was written for a different band-- AHEM). Despite my initial dislike, the harmonies still gave me goosebumps at one point oops. And the second half is def better than the first. Also rare Amy Lee "fuck", ha

Wide Open Heart- pretty good! Gives me self-titled vibes maybe kind of, which to me means inoffensive (that makes it sound like I hate their self-titled album which I DON'T it's just got a lot of "mehs" for me but I still have some mega faves off of it so don't discount it. ALSO DISAPPEAR IS OFF THAT AND DISAPPEAR IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE SONGS EVER. SORRY TANGENT)

Overall- the production on this is such a step up WOW. That was probably the worst thing about the bitter truth (which I really don't like) so I'm so glad it's fixed. Honestly I would say the production might be the best they've ever had which is a relief because it had previously peaked at Fallen. The themes of the songs are a bit samey, but I get it, Amy Lee is mad about One Very Specific Thing that is highly justified and that I am also mad about so like really I can't complain. I think a lot of the lyrics would hit harder if I was closer to being a millennial (I have unfortunately been infected by the Gen Z irony poisoning) but idk I kind of associate Ev with "cringe" lyrics anyway. Everyone kind of does it's their staple. It's part of why I like them; I have a soft spot for edgy things that take themselves just a /little/ too seriously. And lastly I love Amy's (can i pretend to be on a first name basis with her real quick ok thanks) vocals on this, DAMN. Her voice has a slightly... sweeter? quality than it has in a while that I think is very beautiful (and kind of reminiscent of Fallen so I like it. I do NOT want to be one of those fans who compares everything they make to Fallen but unfortunately it is my absolute favorite album forever and ever so it's inevitable. I recognize that it's kind of obnoxious to do though. I don't even have the nostalgia excuse I listened to it for the first time less than 2 years ago lol).

I'm def gonna have to give this a few more listens before I can give any True opinions or add it to my overall album ranking but it's better than The Bitter Truth by 10 million gazillion miles so it's basically a masterpiece.

Phantom 🤭