Freshly released on the 5th of June was Evanescence’s sixth studio album, titled Sanctuary, released via Sony Music/Colombia Records. This album feels on the surface like the typical Evanescence formula that fans know and love, with Amy Lee’s melodic yet utterly dominant vocals weaving the tapestry behind every song, however, even though the album might first feel like a familiar concoction, we can hear a slightly fresher style with a big influence from former Bring Me The Horizon producer Jordan Fish when it comes to the electronic streaks peppered throughout nearly every track on this album.
My first highlight track from Sanctuary has got to be ‘Who Will You Follow’ and that is because the guitars and drums take me right back to ‘Sweet Sacrifice’ from 2006’s The Open Door album. It just brings back treasured memories of getting back home from high school and blasting my favourite songs out loud for the whole house to hear. The second highlight is ‘Rapture’; I feel that this track specifically is very different from much of the Evanescence back catalogue, while I also really like how this track leans quite heavily onto the electronic side. The electronica, mixed with Amy Lee’s vocals and all the other instruments, lends a very unique and strongly cinematic feel to it.
My third highlight track is ‘Afterlife’, with this one feeling emotionally intense and having a big ‘Bring Me Back To Life’ atmosphere to it, just far more raw. I can really feel all the dark depth in Amy Lee’s powerful vocals as she belts out the lyrics “Afterlife” and “I’m not afraid to die!”. Both ‘Who Will You Follow’ and ‘Afterlife’ have a very grande style production, in the sense that it feels like these tracks were made for big-budget movies or live operatic-drama theatre. My fourth and final highlight track is ‘How Do I Heal’; an absolutely beautiful and breath-taking ballad which, when looking back again onto the back catalogue, feels like what would come of ‘My Immortal’ or ‘Lithium’ having a younger sibling. The track is all over captivating and mesmerising; I cannot get over just how beautiful Amy Lee’s voice is after over 30 years as a band – I can’t shake the feeling that somehow her voice has gotten even better, if that’s even possible.
As I touched upon earlier, this album is really your typical Evanescence blueprint but with a lot of extra pizazz, courtesy of all the electronics going on in the background. I really enjoyed this album and I love how Evanescence wasn’t afraid to explore and experiment with developing their tried and tested signature sound. This is something that I wish artists would do all the time! It’s fun, it’s brave and it shows that you’re letting your thoughts and imagination be the driving force behind great music. Looking back, I really think that Evanescence hasn’t got a bad album or track in all their history, and Sanctuary carries that on. All hail the Queen of Gothic Rock!
