The James Logan Courier

By Melissa Mota, Courier Staff Writer

Despite the nearly three years since their last album dropped, Evanescence has been awarded Platinum and Gold certification by the RIAA, a recording industry association, for the 2003 single "My Immortal" in digital form, with more then 500,000 sold, and the digital single "Call Me When You're Sober" has been certified platinum (more than a million sold.)

So perhaps it's a good time to review this fantastic band's output.



The band Evanescence's album, The Open Door, marked their return to a music market that snapped up their debut 2003 album, Fallen, by the millions.

Fallen sold nearly 15 million records worldwide - more than six million in the U.S. alone. The band won two Grammys for Fallen.

The legions of the band's fans have to live with the fact that Evanescence is not the most prolific of musicians. Since Fallen, the band's full-length CD output has been limited to a live album and The Open Door, which dropped in 2006. Several personnel changes and other hitches have slowed the band's output.

A single from The Open Door was nominated for an MTV music award in 2008. Plus, the song is included in Guitar Hero's line-up.

The band comes from a town called Little Rock in Arkansas and formed in 1995.

Lead singer Amy Lee and guitarist Terry Balsamo, who replaced departed co-founder Ben Moody in 2003 wrote most of the material on this wonderful album. It is an absolute must have for any gothic rock fans out there, maybe even some non-fans., particularly if you enjoy lead singer Amy Lee's voice. The whole album is definitely found in my iPod.

It's good enough for repeated listening while we wait for the band to issue another collection of original music.