butterfly | CD: Fallen

Fallen, the cd by Evanescence is amazing. Definitely worth the money. And this is less a review and more me going, "Eee! Love this!"

Overall, there's a heavy emphasis on need and want. Most of the album consist of pleas in some form or another. Love, faith, hope, attention. The need, the hunger, is what powers the music. The need and the want to deny the need.

1) Going Under:
The first song should set the tone of the album. This first song is all about need and pushing away that need, the two conflicting thoughts of the entire cd. And, as in much of the album, there's a sense of inevitability, that the singer has no true hope of controlling this intense reaction to her needs.

2) Bring Me to Life:
I've rhapsodized about this song before. It should come as no surprise to anyone that I adore it. And it definitely fits the overall feel of the album. (My words from before were: "Bring me to Life is a demand, a plea, a scream into the night. It uses forceful phrases and it... orders even as it begs.")

3) Everybody's Fool:
A song about total disillusionment. There's a strong sense of betrayal and yet there's still that contradictory want for things to be as they appear.

4) My Immortal:
The ultimate mournful cry. Want, need, forever, and all of it is wrapped up in knowing that you're alone in your feelings. The feeling of having something but not enough.

5) Haunted:
This song feels like it's written by someone being stalked by an ex-lover. Creepy in the extreme. Fear and desire all twisted up together. I could actually see this as the other side of My Immortal or Bring Me to Life, the side that's being almost obsessively adored and is uncomfortable with it.

6) Tourniquet:
Last prayer of the damned. Like most of the songs on this cd, this one is a plea, but the direction of this one is a different one. Hope mixed up with fear and pain. (also, this is apparently a cover of Soul Embraced's My Tourniquet)

7) Imaginary:
A song that says, actually, how I've felt sometimes. You know that what you pretend isn't real, but it can be so much nicer than reality. Not a plea, but a reflection. An explanation. 'This is why I hide. I'm not delusional, I just want the world to be better.'

8) Taking Over Me:
In the grand tradition of *NSYNC, it's a stalker song. Joking. But it's all about that kind of one-sided, obsessive love. Actually, now that I think about it, this is the other side of Haunted.

9) Hello:
Another mournful plea, though this one is much softer... gentler. Very much a song after a death. You know, I should add 'death' the the themes of this album. It's interesting how so many of these songs are similar yet still very distinct.

10) My Last Breath:
Similar subject to Tourniquet but this song has a far different tone to it. Where Tourniquet is terrified, this one is wistful yet accepting.

11) Whisper:
This is interesting to listen to directly after the first song, since they have quite a lot in common. But the first one had a sense of doom about it, while this one has... well, less hopelessness. There's fear and despair, but also strength and determination.