Evanescence

History

1994–2000: Formation and early years

Singer and pianist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody met in 1994 in Little Rock, Arkansas at ages 13 and 14, when the two were at a Christian youth camp where Lee played piano during sport activities and Moody played acoustic guitar and she thought they could play music together. Lee thinks what drew them together at the time was that they "didn't fit in that well" and were "out of [their] element in this silly camp environment". Within a month of meeting, Lee brought Moody a cassette tape of her playing guitar and singing a song she wrote. They became musical collaborators, playing and working on music at Lee's home, and were soon performing acoustic sets at book stores and coffee houses in the Little Rock area. Lee said their music at the time "sounded different because we didn't have the means to make it sound like we wanted". Strings, choirs, and "dramatic, cinematic" sounds were musical desires they couldn't materialize as they were "just two kids in a basement". Lee had a 16-track recorder and she and Moody would use it and Pro Tools, "fake strings and choirs" on her keyboard, and layer sounds and beats for their early material, which they mixed and produced. "We were basically just putting it down to remember what we wanted", Lee said.

Lee had the musical vision for Evanescence. What made her want to start a band was "the idea of combinations that were unlikely". Danny Elfman's film scores were a significant influence for her when she began creating Evanescence's music. Lee aimed to combine her various musical tastes, "bringing something from the cinematic and classical symphonic world and marrying it to metal, hard rock and alternative music." Perceiving "similarities between the drama of classical music and the heavier stuff I was listening to" inspired her to "bring those things together for myself", and she infused in Evanescence her love of contrasting sounds. "There was all this music that was inspiring me. And Evanescence was the product of these two extremes combining". After experimenting with band names, such as Childish Intentions and Stricken, Lee and Moody decided on Evanescence, which means disappearance or fading away. They wanted a name that was "out of nowhere", and when they came across the word they found it "beautiful" and "elusive".

Lee and Moody recorded two EPs as Evanescence: Evanescence (1998), of which 100 copies were made and sold at their early live performances; and Sound Asleep (1999), also known as the Whisper EP. Their demos got them airplay on the local modern rock station in Little Rock, which helped them develop a local fanbase, allowing them to play a couple of bigger shows a year and hire other musicians to perform other instruments live. Although they played with guest musicians, Evanescence remained a duo. "It was more because that's what we did and how we worked rather than not wanting any other input", Lee recalled; "the idea of a full band playing these songs was something that only came along later." Since Evanescence's start, the two had brought in several people to record or play live, but their vision was never shared by others "so it always ended reverting back to the two of us". Lee and Moody were focused on writing music over playing live shows, and they did not want to have a band join their writing process, Moody noted; "we just wanted it to be the two of us and so we'd play once or twice a year." He said that they would be "off writing and recording in our closets for six months", and as they couldn't have live shows with just a duo, they would book a gig and ask friends to perform with them. Moody stated that he did not remember how many EPs they released, and he viewed them as "really just a means"; CDs "we could sell ourselves at our shows so we could go out and buy pizza. They really weren't official releases".

2001–2004: Fallen and Anywhere but Home

Evanescence were having their demos mastered at Ardent Studios in Memphis, where a producer heard it and played the demos to his friend at Wind-up Records, head of A&R Diana Meltzer. Meltzer said what made her want to sign them was Lee's voice, lyrics and their gothic sound. When she heard "My Immortal" she said she "knew it was a hit". Evanescence was signed by Wind-up in 2001. The label flew them to New York, and told them that they loved their different sound and thought they had potential, but "we don't really totally know what to do with you", Lee recalled. They were then told, "if you were this good while distracted by school and all this other stuff, how good will you be if we put you in an environment where you have nothing to do but write and be influenced by your surroundings, like in Los Angeles." They were relocated to Los Angeles, given an apartment and rehearsal space and enrolled in a gym, according to Meltzer, and Lee, who was very introverted, received help from an acting teacher to overcome her stage fright. Meltzer told HitQuarters in 2003 that, while she loved Lee's voice, their gothic sound, and Lee and Moody had already exhibited "huge talent" with their prior demo material, they were still young and she felt they could benefit from more time to work on their debut album so they "could deliver a breakthrough sound".

Lee said that at the time of signing, they did not realize the label would move them out to Los Angeles for two years, thinking it would be about six months. The length of time in Los Angeles "really frustrated" them. The label was apprehensive about the marketability of a female-led band, and advised them to just keep writing songs. It ended up being a fruitful writing experience in Los Angeles, Lee said, as they wrote half of the album there and were able to make use of other equipment to get sounds they wanted. After almost two years of Evanescence working on the album, Dave Fortman was brought in to produce it. Then, label executives refused to release the album unless Lee and Moody agreed to hire a full-time male co-vocalist. When they did not agree, the label said they were withdrawing their funding and releasing them from their contract. They left Los Angeles and drove back to Little Rock.

A few weeks later, the label relented, informing them that they would release their album if they agreed to have a male rapper on its lead single, "Bring Me to Life", in order to give something familiar to listeners. Lee was not happy about this, but reluctantly agreed to the compromise and wrote the part for the male vocal. She originally wanted the lead single to be "Going Under" as she was concerned that the public would hear "Bring Me to Life" with its male vocal and decide that was the sound of the band. She was relieved that people were still receptive to Evanescence when "Going Under" was released as their second single. Lee prefers "Bring Me To Life" without the label-forced rap, and expressed dissatisfaction that it "stamps a time period" on the song; however, she made peace with it because they were able to "survive past it" and "people were able to, for the most part, understand who we are without us getting stuck in that place."

2004–2007: The Open Door

Lee musically collaborated with Balsamo for Evanescence's second album, The Open Door (2006). They began writing together in March 2004, after finishing the tour for Fallen. The album progressed slowly for several reasons, including Lee's desire to maximize the creative process and not rush production, Balsamo's stroke, and turbulence with their former manager. The writing experience for The Open Door was "the best process" Lee ever had because she had "free rein" and could "do whatever I wanted without being judged". She called this period a "beautiful time of independence". "I was still learning who I was and still growing, and wanted the space to be able to try stuff." She was inspired to make "homemade sounds" and incorporate other elements into the music.

In 2006, Lee said that when she listened back to Fallen, she "hear[d] all the vulnerability and the fear and all the childish things in me that are just human." While Lee was drowning in the misery of her experiences in Fallen, she said The Open Door is largely about her acknowledging her issues and deliberating "what do I have to do to work this out." "There were things for me to get over", she explained. "I could just have shut up and stayed stuck in a lot of negative situations and not done anything, and on the outside it would have looked like everything was fine for me". In the record, she is "purging the trials", but overall it comes from a less hopeless place and with a more reflective outlook. She also used her experience as a lone female and "hard adjustment" with the fame the Fallen era brought as inspiration for the album.

On July 13, 2006, Lee announced that bassist Will Boyd had left the band after the album was completed for "not wanting to do another big tour" and wanting "to be close to his family". In an interview with MTV, Lee announced that Tim McCord, former guitarist of The Revolution Smile, would switch instruments and play bass for the band.

The Open Door's lead single "Call Me When You're Sober" hit modern rock and alternative rock radio on August 7, 2006. The 13-track album was released in the US and Canada on October 3, 2006; the United Kingdom on October 2, 2006; and Australia on September 30, 2006. The album sold 447,000 copies in the US in its first week of sales and earned their first No. 1 ranking on the Billboard 200 album chart. The music video for "Call Me When You're Sober" was shot in Los Angeles and is based on the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood. The Open Door became available for pre-order on the iTunes Store on August 15, 2006; the music video for "Call Me When You're Sober" was also made available.

2009–2014: Evanescence and hiatus

About 18 months after Lee stepped away from the industry, she began writing music again, and went into the studio with producer Steve Lillywhite. In a news posting to the Evanescence website during June 2009, Lee wrote that the band was in the process of writing new material for a new album proposed for release in 2010. The band played a "secret show" at the Manhattan Center Grand Ballroom in New York City on November 4, 2009, with label mates Civil Twilight. Tickets for the show sold out in five minutes. This show acted as a warm-up for their headline appearance at the Maquinária Festival in São Paulo, Brazil, which took place on November 8.

In January 2010, Evanescence released "Together Again" as a digital download, a song created for The Open Door but later cut. The song was released to aid the United Nations Foundation in Haiti earthquake recovery efforts. It later received an official release as a digital download on February 23, 2010.

Evanescence entered the studio on February 22, 2010, to begin recording for the new album, with Will "Science" Hunt assisting in programming. David Campbell, who previously worked on The Open Door, was brought back to handle string arrangements, and the album was initially being produced by Lillywhite. Lee later said that "Steve wasn't the right fit" and was replaced by producer Nick Raskulinecz. It was later revealed that the record label had scrapped the material recorded with Lillywhite.

At the time the band began recording, the album was intended for an August or September 2010 release. However, on June 21, 2010, Lee announced on EvThreads.com that Evanescence had temporarily left the studio to work further on the album and "get our heads into the right creative space". Lee also indicated that record label Wind-up Records was going through "uncertain times", which would further delay the release of the album. The band reentered the studio in early April 2011 with Raskulinecz, who had produced music for Alice in Chains, Deftones, and Foo Fighters, to continue work on the third album. It was reported that the album would be released in late 2011.

On June 12, 2011, Lee announced through her Twitter account that guitarist Troy McLawhorn, who worked with Seether for a time and left, was officially back with Evanescence, and the release date for their new album would be October 4, 2011. Later, on July 11, 2011, it was reported by MTV News that the release date for the album had been pushed back to October 11, and that the first single from the album will be "What You Want". The band recorded the album at Blackbird Studio in Nashville. During an interview with Kerrang!, Lee revealed that the new album's title will be Evanescence. Lee said that the decision for the title of the album was her love towards Evanescence, as well as the record being composed more collaboratively than past albums, with all members contributing. The record is "about the band", Lee explained. Its lyrical themes include Lee "falling back in love" with Evanescence, her being inspired by nature and the ocean, brokenness, the quest for freedom, and falling in love. Different from The Open Door, which was "all about me and my personal experiences", Evanescence also includes Lee's musings on events that occurred to others in her life. "But really, whatever makes me feel the most, that's what's on the record, because that's what I need to get off my chest."

2015–2018: Return and Synthesis

On April 27, 2015, it was announced that the band would perform at Japan's Ozzfest on November 21, 2015, as the second headline act. On August 7, 2015, Lee announced that long-time guitarist Terry Balsamo had departed the band. His position was filled by German guitarist Jen Majura, who was recommended by Testament's Alex Skolnick.

In an October 2015 interview, Lee stated that she was focusing on solo projects so there were no current plans for new Evanescence music yet, but the band would continue to tour through 2016. "It feels really good to have a lot of different things going on at once in the sense that I feel like I'm not just flexing one muscle", she said. The band made their return to the stage in November 2015, playing three US shows and performing at Ozzfest in Tokyo, Japan, marking their first live performances since their hiatus.

In February 2016, Lee said the band was working on the six-LP vinyl box set titled The Ultimate Collection, which includes all three studio albums, the previously unreleased 2000 demo CD Origin, the rarities compilation album Lost Whispers, a studio version of the tour intro "Lost Whispers", a studio recording of the song "Even In Death", alongside a 52-page casebound book with art, handwritten lyrics, photos and rarities. The box set was released in February 2017, and the compilation album Lost Whispers was made available for streaming and downloading on Spotify, iTunes, and Anghami. It contains the re-recorded "Even in Death", previously released B-sides, the four deluxe edition bonus tracks to Evanescence, and the new song "Lost Whispers".

In the fall of 2016, the band toured select cities in the US, choosing alternative rock band Veridia as their opener. During this tour, the band played a new song titled "Take Cover", an outtake from the scrapped 2010 sessions for their self-titled album. In an October 2016 interview with Loudwire, Lee confirmed that "there is Evanescence in the future", adding that she wants to take things step by step. She said in another interview that the band was not making a new album yet but working on a project that was "not exactly the most traditional thing", something that would take fans on a "different path that we wanna try". In February 2017, it was confirmed that the band was working in the studio.

In a March 2017 interview with AOL Build, Lee spoke about her solo single, "Speak to Me" and "a new album" in the works by Evanescence, stating, "We're working on something. [...] It's not just a straightforward 'next Evanescence album'". In a March 23 interview with Metal Hammer, Lee stated that "It's something unique, something complex, something a little bit beyond that – and it's definitely new territory for all of us." The album was intended for release later in 2017.

2019–2023: The Bitter Truth

On February 4, 2019, the band released dates and locations for a spring/summer 2019 US concert tour. In May 2019, former guitarist Terry Balsamo performed with the band again at a live show for the song "Sweet Sacrifice". On May 11, 2019, Lee was quoted by Blabbermouth on plans for Evanescence to release a new studio album in 2020. In a November 21, 2019, Reddit AMA, Lee said of the album, "It's dark and heavy. Its also got moments of weird and sparse. Little bit of everything. Definitely some Open Door vibes but not the same."

On September 17, 2019, Evanescence and symphonic metal band Within Temptation announced a seven-city joint European tour titled Worlds Collide originally scheduled for April 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tour was postponed for September 2020. It was then pushed back a second time to take place in September 2021. The tour had to be rescheduled a third time, with March 2022 set as the start date. The last postponement was announced in February 2022, with the tour scheduled for November and December 2022.

On September 5, 2019, Xbox released a launch trailer for the video game Gears 5 that included a version of Lee's cover of Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain". Initially a solo project by Lee, she then got approval to cover the song with the band and a full version of the song was released by Evanescence on November 22, 2019, which features backing vocals by the other members of the band. The cover hit number one on the Billboard Rock Digital Song Sales chart. A music video for the song was released on January 9, 2020. The cover song would not be included on the band's upcoming fifth album.

At the end of January 2020, the band entered the studio with Nick Raskulinecz, who produced their 2011 self-titled album, to work on three "heavy" songs. They would originally record only two songs with him, but ended up recording four. They planned to work piecemeal with the recording process, finishing a few songs with a producer and then working on a few other songs with another producer, but this plan was set aside because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On April 17, 2020, the band announced the title of their new album, The Bitter Truth, along with the artwork. The album's first single, "Wasted on You", was released on April 24 along with a music video. The music video was directed by P. R. Brown and included shots of the band members, at home due to the pandemic. The second single, "The Game Is Over", was released on July 1. "Use My Voice", the album's third single, was released on August 14. It features backing vocals from Lzzy Hale, Lindsey Stirling, Taylor Momsen, Deena Jakoub, and Sharon den Adel, and was used in a HeadCount campaign to encourage Americans to vote in the United States presidential election.

2024–present: Sanctuary

In September 2024, the band stated that they would be entering the studio to record new music for their sixth studio album in November. On March 27, 2025, they released the song "Afterlife" for the Netflix anime Devil May Cry. On May 9, Lee teamed up with singer Halsey for a duet on "Hand That Feeds", in promotion for the 2025 John Wick spinoff film Ballerina. Additionally, the band released "Fight Like a Girl" featuring American singer K. Flay, which features in the end credits of the film.

In December 2025, Evanescence announced a headlining world tour set to begin in June 2026, featuring Spiritbox, Poppy, Nova Twins, and K. Flay as support acts across select dates. This follows Lee's collaboration with Spiritbox vocalist Courtney LaPlante and Poppy on "End of You" in September 2025.

On April 10, 2026, the lead single to the band's sixth album was released, titled "Who Will You Follow". Along with the release came the unveiling of the album's title Sanctuary, as well as the album artwork and release date of June 5.

Artistry

Musical style

Evanescence blends various musical styles in their music, primarily rock, classical, alternative, heavy metal, industrial, and electronic. Music journalists vary in terming Evanescence a rock or metal band, and many identify gothic elements in their music. The band is generally classified as alternative metal, gothic rock, gothic metal, and hard rock. Other genres used to describe the band's sound over the years include industrial rock, symphonic metal, nu metal, and symphonic rock. Evanescence have also incorporated other styles in their music, including several forms of electronic music, progressive rock, R&B, soul, trip hop, and Eastern music. Lee said of the nu metal label that it was "something that they called a lot of hard rock music back then that wasn't like, happy rock" and had "the male rapping vibe". She disliked the label but does not focus on any particular category, preferring the term "alternative".

Metal Injection deemed them "gothic-tinged alternative metal mainstays", and AllMusic described their music as "alt-metal that layers orchestral and electronic touches atop brooding goth rock". Regarding the early classification of Evanescence as nu-metal, Loudwire said that this occurred due to their debut album being released at a time "when nu-metal was essentially at its peak" and they "were one of the only bands fronted by a woman that was headlining massive rock and metal festivals with Korn and the like, so putting them in the same category was likely appropriate", while their music also had "nu-metal elements in addition to gothic metal". The Washington Post said in 2006 that Lee working with any group of musicians in the band "is going to sound like Evanescence -- dark, stormy, anguished, seeking both release and transcendence." Kerrang! characterized the band's sound as a "melodic crush of haunting, baroque harmonies and heavy guitars".

Evanescence "has long had dual personalities, mixing alt-metal and symphonic rock on its three studio albums", while their fourth, Synthesis, focuses on "orchestral grandeur" with electronic percussion, The Wall Street Journal stated. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch said the band "has long been known to mix beauty and bombast", with Synthesis and its live orchestra-backed show turning Lee's "wrenching, introspective songs into neo-operatic anthems". Variety depicted the band's sound after Synthesis as "evolving from its nu-metal/post-grunge origins to, naturally, a synthesis of rock, classical and EDM". AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote of Evanescence's musical evolution: "Over the years and through multiple lineup shifts, the band persevered under Lee's helm, eventually shifting from the radio-friendly anthems of their early days into a shimmering, classically inspired symphonic alternative outfit in the 2010s".

Influences

Lee's musical influences throughout childhood and her teenage years included classical music, Danny Elfman and Hans Zimmer's film scores, alternative music, grunge, hard rock, industrial music, death metal, groove metal, and electronica artists like Björk and Portishead. Her earliest memory of wanting to fuse various and contrasting musical styles, was when she was training in classical piano and realized that a section of a composition from Baroque composer Bach resembled heavy metal. Lee considers the Lacrimosa movement of Mozart's Requiem her favorite piece of music, and wove it into The Open Door song "Lacrymosa".

With Evanescence, Lee aimed to combine her various musical tastes, including "bringing something from the cinematic and classical symphonic world and marrying it to metal, hard rock and alternative music". "There was all this music that was inspiring me. And Evanescence was the product of these two extremes combining". Contrasting sounds is an element of Evanescence music, with Lee noting that alongside rock and metal, the band has "always had programming and inspirations from Bjork, Depeche Mode and Massive Attack and that kind of thing".

Evanescence cite Björk, Mozart, Danny Elfman, Portishead, Soundgarden, Korn, Tori Amos, Nirvana, Pantera, Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins, Garbage, Depeche Mode, and A Perfect Circle as influences.

Impact

Various publications have noted Evanescence's musical and gendered impact in rock. The band's symphonic gothic rock style was not present in the mainstream music industry, and their success among "testosterone-driven and male-dominated" rock radio was a rarity. Evanescence was an "anomaly" breaking into the mainstream, and played a "large part in mainstream-rock radio opening its mind to playing a female voice on the airwaves", Consequence wrote. Rolling Stone said Evanescence "brought theatrics and a much-needed femininity to the hard-rock boys' club of the early 2000s". Lee "broke down the doors of the alternative metal boys club", AllMusic stated, and was a "disrupter" of the early 2000s mainstream music scene. The Daily Telegraph noted that "the people who doubted that pianos or female vocals belonged in rock music were quickly proven wrong" with Evanescence albums' success and Lee's "singular voice in a scene dominated by macho aggression". Evanescence had a "big" impact "on the next generation of bands", Kerrang! wrote, and Lee "has helped light the path for many dauntless young women in music", The Los Angeles Times stated. Kerrang! named Evanescence "one of heavy music's most important, influential and relevant bands", and remarked that there is "a timelessness about their sound that's barely dated over the last two decades" and their "emotional potency has only been enhanced".

Band members

Current

Amy Lee – lead vocals, piano, keyboards, harp (1994–present)

Troy McLawhorn – guitar (2007–present)

Tim McCord – guitar (2022–present); bass (2006–2022)

Emma Anzai – bass, backing vocals (2022–present)

Will Hunt – drums (2007–present)

Former

Ben Moody – guitar (1994–2003)

Terry Balsamo – guitar (2003–2015)

John LeCompt – guitar (2005–2007; touring musician 2003–2005)

Jen Majura – guitar, backing vocals, theremin (2015–2022)

Will Boyd – bass (2005–2006; touring musician 2003–2005)

David Hodges – keyboards, backing vocals (2000–2002)

Rocky Gray – drums (2005–2007; touring musician 2003–2005)

Timeline

Discography

Fallen (2003)

The Open Door (2006)

Evanescence (2011)

Synthesis (2017)

The Bitter Truth (2021)

Sanctuary (2026)