The Only One.

It's Shake 'n Bake and I he'ped!

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I hate to say it, but I think 80% of the critical response will be toward the latter. This is a hard album to get into and since Evanescence never got much critical attention as a "serious" band, I fear most critics will give it a listen or two before taking the easy way out and giving it the "sophomore slump" label.

Commercially, it's hard to say. Since CMWYS is the lead single and there's nothing else really on the album in that vein, early record buyers might get turned off and so word of mouth may be hard to get rolling.

last.fm again, this time the top 20 tracks evanescence-internal (they messed up the long view... argh.)

1 Call me when you're sober
7 Sweet sacrifice
8 Lithium
10 Weight of the world
14 Cloud nine
15 Lacrymosa
17 Snow white queen
19 Like you
20 Lose control

cmwys on top is clear: it leaked long before, more people have it. Sweet sacrifice ranking higher than lithium surprises me a bit, and that they are kind of interleaved with fallen songs with about the same score makes me speculate that tod gets about as many plays as fallen, which does not say anything at all.

Well, after having had the songs in my posession for, what is it now, um...about four or five days, I can give my little review.

My top two favourite songs are definitely Lacrymosa and Lithium; I can't put them in any order--it's too hard, but both of them captivate me like no song has in a long time. Other faves invlude Sweet Sacrifice, All That I'm Living For, CMWYS, Weight of the World, and Good Enough. I've struggled intensely with trying to say that TOD is better or worse than Fallen, and I really can't, because it's just so different, at least to me. Not all of the songs really grab me; the ones that I don't really like I guess are the ones that have those weird beats (reminds me of some tracks of Origin that I didn't like) and Amy's voice very low and incoherent.

Now, as for what the critics will say (which, 99.9% of the time, never dictate to me what I will or will not listen to), I wouldn't be surprised if the majority response was "an incoherent mess", but not because I agree with that at all. Some people won't and don't like the huge morphs and changes and growths the band and Amy has gone through, and that's okay. I think this is a great package, fresh and clear to comprehend, just different. It's greatly more mature than Fallen, and maturity can sometimes take a lot of time to embrace.

Well, this is merely my opinion about critics: so far, 90% of the critics were positive to TOD, and "Fallen", though it was very well received by audience, it wasn't seen as something spetacular to the critics, actually most par of them critiziced the band for being too comercial, too simplistics and linkin park-ish...

I understand your opinion, and I don't really disagree with it, but I think that (rock) critics might like it. I believe, it depends on who is the person listening to it. Does that person like that genre of music at all? Does that person already dislike the band? Did that person care for the bands earlier work? I think you get what I'm saying.
I'm not sure why, but I kind of see this album being liked by those who aren't normally Ev fans, so long as they're from the rock community.
I think Ev was never given the chance they deserved in the rock/hard rock community, and I think this album is definitely harder than Fallen.
Not saying that the rock community will enjoy it, but I believe they'll actually give the cd a chance, and may like it more than Fallen.

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I *Ashlee* will promise to respect other people's opinions and not bash them or get overly crazy. I promise not to be a fangirl/fanboy or a total hater and post my opinions in and MATURE manner.

When I first listened to the album it was definately a shock. It was so different and just not what I was expecting (not that i knew what to expect). I didn't dislike the album as a whole, there were just aspects of the album that didn't appeal to my taste. After a few listens I picked up different things that appealed to me throughout the album (a lyric, note, riff etc). Even now I am still noticing things about the album that make me appeciate it more and more.

It's a brave album, no doubt. And for that I love it.

As they say, all great art is controversial at first.

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I *Katie* will promise to respect other people's opinions and not bash them or get overly crazy. I promise not to be a fangirl/fanboy or a total hater and post my opinions in and MATURE manner.

Ok, I've just listed to it all the way through.
I wasn't at all surprised by the new ev sound. I don't think this album is at all experimental by my standards. I'd say it was over produced/tweaked. The songs are very predictable and nothing really stands out about them to me. It sounds like background music, which dissapoints me.

People have been saying that they didn't have any songs that really jumped out at them and I disagreed with. Good Enough and Lacrymosa don't seem cohesive with the rest of the album. To me that's a grood thing. I love both of those songs...

If anything, I was really hoping for lyrics that had matured and I feel like that is also lacking. Though there are a few catchy lines, over all I'd say the lyrics are too dramatic and too predictable.

However, I still like the album...sort of. I think amy's voice has improved SO much. (not that it was bad to begin with ) but some of her vocals are incredible. Whyyyy why why did they mask it with all those filters? her voice has so much power and character...

I honestly feel like evanescence really had something with the pre-fallen stuff, but they've really dissapated. But still, there's something about them...

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good news for people who like bad news

Ok I respect the fans who are not crazy about this album (even though I don't see why). But I absolutely looove the album. I think it's a great step up from Fallen. I think this cd is edgier and very creative. I honestly can't choose which cd I like better because they are so different, there is no comparison. I think this cd separates the true rock fans from the poppy/commercial fans. The band has truly poured their hearts and souls into this cd and they did a fantastic job.
I'm glad this cd is so different because there is nothing worse then a band producing the same thing on every album. I like a band who knows how to reinvent themselves in a good and positive way. The best bands sound different on every album, yet the heart of the band can always be heard. Honestly, did you guys really want to hear the same type of songs from Fallen? Many kudos to TOD.

i think the reason i liked the open door so much was because i tried not to expect anything too much. i didn't think "well, oh if its not super heavy or too whiny or something genre i dont like i wont buy it and its not worthy" i just thought. well what it sounds like is what it sounds like and i don't know what to expect, if its good, its good. if its not then its not but ill try to get into it. i didn't try to expect any of the expected. *if that even makes sence*. lol i just listened to it not assuming anyhting and thought. WOW. this is great. very worthy of three years of work. its great. the lyrics arn't anything like fallen and each song is its own.

this is just my opinion and im not basing it on any one elses. i just adore this album!

edit: i jsut did a whole review and it got erase because it took to long. NOOO. screw it im not doing it again. curse my bad thinking.

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This one, this form I hold now. Embracing you, this reality here.