Amy Lee Breathe into me and make me real: short version
Fallen rests on a foundation of metal-esque crunchy guitars supplied by Ben Moody, matching speed changes on drums is Josh Freese. On Bass Francesco DiCosmo, and when things turn sad and reflective, on piano and keyboards, David Hodges. Strangely enough, the official band line-up, and album credits don't quite agree, but these folks seem to head the studio effort.
However good these parts are (and they are good) not one is the core of this album. Like planets, all the musicians revolve around, and are effected by Amy Lee's every movement. Fallen as an album is powered, even rattled by the stout and emotionally drenched vocals of lead singer Amy Lee.
Time after time, on tracks like Going Under and Everybody’s Fool Lee’s vocals rip through the landscape created by her bandmates like a ten ton sickle. Lee puts so much behind her warbling, and aching, that I swear she could lift herself off the ground with those pipes. Even though Lee can be forceful vocally, she can calm her torrid emotions on My Immortal and Taking Over Me and let slip tranquil yet incredibly wounded ballads.
Bring me back to life opens with a tinkling music box piano, followed by the deep bellyache of a whale. Only a high quality sound system or robust headphones could reproduce the very lowest octave of this sound. In between this, Amy sings as if in a fetal position, only to unfurl and fire up her vocal cords to match the pulsing and grinding of her band. Hello is one of the best piano ballads to come since anything by Tori Amos, or Fisher's I will love you. Opening with the sound of a string in the midst of a painful sigh, Hello begins to reminisce with longing piano work.
There are however little things that bother me. Like Paul McCoy of 12 Stones, he comes off like Linkin Park on his vocal contribution to Bring Me to Life. I know LP is all the rage, but I loathe the band, and I don’t want any Linkin in my Evanescence sandwich. I like the music and lyrics of Tourniquet until Amy Lee sings “ my God, my tourniquet return me to salvation.”
The sound of constantly yearning, reaching out, and sadness are always present. Amy Lee's torment is always in plain sight, yet the source is not always clear. Amy Lee's pain seems to move from love and relationships lost, to betrayal on Everybody’s Fool. You can "hear" her smokey eyes, black hair and tattooed tears even without ever seeing Amy.
Without rest Fallen is constantly twisting, turning, writhing, struggling to escape an emotional straitjacket. Amy Lee’s vocal assault on your emotions never ends, it absolutely never takes a breath, it's unrelenting, and emotionally exhausting on some level. I can hear plenty of female singers smile when they sing, but I never hear that from Amy Lee, not once.
Moody and lead singer Amy Lee met at church camp as youths. For whatever reason, fans of Christian music feel Fallen belongs to them. There very rarely has been anything spectacular coming from Christian pop/rock and rap (cringe) and this is an opportunity to grab hold of something intense and moving. In this sense, I foresee many groups jockeying for position, to claim ownership in some way. Honestly, I shouldn't criticize anybody for such things; because in a strange celebrity stalker kind of way, I feel as if Fallen and Amy in particular, belong to me.
© Tony Flores 2003
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