Here's my best-of-Evanescence mix.
Written: Jan 17 '05 (Updated Jun 08 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Excellent experimental album, all around awe-inspiring
Cons: There's not much to complain about. This is just a great "debut".
The Bottom Line: I completely recommend Origin to anyone; it's excellent for fans of Evanescence and the genre, and for newcomers as well.
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| asra's Full Review: Origin - Evanescence Movies |
This, like I said, is my favorite album ever. Pristine completely in every way, shape, and form, the songs on this album are completely original, rare works of art. From the sweeping Whisper and Eternal, to the slow soft ballads Field of Innocence and the acclaimed My Immortal, this album delivers in every way possible, no matter your musical tastes.
Origin begins this album with a band, a cacophony of screams, gunshot-like sound effects, and later guitar riffs, this is eerie in every way. An electronic programmed beat takes over at the end, leading nicely into the excellent Whisper, much different from the Fallen version of the song. This version is darker, slower-paced, more muffled, distorted, and made more evil in almost every way. Shorter, the Latin chanting "servatis a periculum, servatis a maleficum" was not on this version, but rather a haunting, slow, beautiful yet dark organ outro, an excellent end to an excellent song.
Imaginary is one of the softer songs on the album, and is not at all like the loud, rock version on Fallen, but rather seems a pleasant piano melody with peppy vocals at the start; but sounds, like looks, can be decieving. A few moments into the song, guitars, echos, and other dark sounds kick in. Still excellent, but different. My Immortal, I am convinced, is the same version as on Fallen, minus the orchestra. It's still the haunting, beautiful piano ballad you know and love, but imagine that without the orchestra. I personally prefer this version to Fallen, but my favorite version of all time stands as the band version.
Where Will You Go begins decievingly, and is somewhat experimental. A distant, crecendoing piano melody comes in for about ten seconds at the beginning, but then an electronic backbeat kicks in, and Amy stronger than ever. An interesting feature of this track is the organ, kept almost the same from the version on the Evanescence EP in 1998, but set to a faster pace. This adds to the tension of the track and keeps things flowing nicely. Another excellent track is Field of Innocence, a nice acoustic guitar ballad about innocence lost, and longing to regain it, but the inability to do so. Not my favorite track on the album, but excellent nonetheless.
Even in Death was a popular song for part of the Fallen live tour, and is quite different on Origin. An electronic backbeat keeps the beat going, along with Amy's stunning vocals and the excellent lyrics about how love doesn't die, even in death. This leads nicely into the beautiful love song Anywhere, one of the few love songs in Evanescence's history. It almost seems pop as you hear the drums and guitar fading in, but once Amy starts singing, the mood changes, and it becomes a beautiful song of the ending of oppresison. The ending, after the music stops, is the same outro used in Where Will You Go, but a remixed version.
Lies is considered by many to be Evanescence's best track. I disagree, but that's my personal preference. It begins with Amy chanting (she just loves to do that, if you haven't noticed yet), and then killer guitars kick in. This is one of few Evanescence tracks that feature a male vocalist, muttering something I can't hear. Oh well, forget him; I'm just going to concentrate on that great chorus! This song has a great epic, dark feel to it, and is essential to the album.
Away From Me is another experimental track on this excellent album, and one with a very quick tempo. It's very hard to put into words, and must be listened to to be understood. The electronic backbeat of the outro track Eternal begins on the end of Away From Me and leads seamlessely into the song. Eternal is not thought of as an outro as much as a full-fledged song in its own right, a sweeping epic in three movements, the later two being slow ballads, while the first one being one of the fastest tempos on the album, a sweeping song of electronics, excellent piano, courtesy of David Hodges, who left shortly after Origin was released, and guitar. A raining interlude brings in the second movement, a soft, slow, beautiful piano ballad, then another raining interlude and the track known as Demise, a clunking guitar and drum melody. The track fades out, leaving you to think on what you heard.
The outtake from the album, Listen To The Rain, is another excellent song, written by Amy for her high school choir, which she was president of. The choir pleads the listeners to listen, listen to the rain to hear the secret messages it is trying to relay. An excellent song, and a shame it didn't make it onto Origin.
As was stated, Origin is my favorite album ever. Nothing is wrong with it at all, and I have never gotten sick of it in the long while now that I've had it. The only drawback is its rarity. Come on Amy, rerelease your best work for the entire world to hear!
Well, what are you doing still sitting here, reading this review? Go out and find Origin, be it the CD or the tracks online!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
asra
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Member: Adam Starker
Location: Denver, Colorado, United States
Reviews written: 47
Trusted by: 7 members
About Me:
Most random music taste ever. High school student. Grain of salt, etc.
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