Evanescence - Sanctuary

I don't remember the last time I listened to an Evanescence song, it's good to see she's still around.

A solid record. Much better than their last aberration of an album. This leans towards a more modern metalcore/alternative sound, like the one you can find being executed by bands like Lacuna Coil, Within Temptation and Korn, but, of course, with a much more prominent pop appeal, since it's Evanescence. I just can't like the ballads, they're the most uninteresting songs and break off the dynamics of the listen in a very abrupt way. I hope Amy Lee has satisfied her obsession with electronics with this, for the band sounds to be begging for more space, also Evanescence with orchestral and choir arrangements is way better than this stubbornness to pursue a "synthetic nirvana".

Have listened to it a couple times and It's apparent that they have hung out with within temptation. Sounds a bit like their last couple albums. The trouble I'm having with it so far is I can't really distinguish one track from another. They're not bad but nothing really sticks out as different from the others to me. I will have to have a few more run throughs first before I give it a rating. X

Written by devilstoy on 06.06.2026 at 17:10

The trouble I'm having with it so far is I can't really distinguish one track from another.

The same happened to me but on the third listen I came to feel each song with their distinctive features. I really appreciated this effort, despite expecting something different because of Afterlife and Who Will You Follow. It turned out that they kind of sounded misplaced in the tracklist, but this didn't mess up with the overall experience for me.

Ironically, I consider there are some other songs on the album that are way better than the couple of singles they shared before the official album release: Beautiful Lie, About Us, Self Destruct, & Forever Without You.

I think its a good effort in the right direction but they still need harder guitar riffs overall (they already added some here and there but its not enough) because it seems they stick to the same sound of latest releases, its what Im always missing.

People must be free to rate in the right terms of the site, I understand it, but come on! This is one of the most relevant discs in the rock/metal genres released to this point of the year! 7.1 is a ridiculous rating and I'll always repeat that this band not being activated in the site is a huge injustice! Evanescence has always brought a fresh air to the scene, which seems to be stuck in the narrow-minded notion that "metal" equals black, doom or only thrash! This crossover version of heavy metal Amy Lee has been offering for decades is more than worthy half of dozens of the albums overrated here. Just so you know, I'm also a huge fan of the classics, just check out my profile!