Despite all the flack the band got for being incognito God rockers, I took no shame in enjoying Evanescence (still don’t). Pick apart the lyrics all you want, but they were never as blatant in their love of Christ as . . . say, Stryper! I actually consider myself fortunate enough to have seen them perform live before guitarist and co-songwriter Ben Moody left the band. Before long, the rest of the band had been systematically replaced, with only Amy Lee remaining, by the time a second album was released. Meanwhile, Moody went on to write for pop singers like Kelly Clarkson and Avril Lavigne.

But now, Moody and the other former members of Evanascence have rejoined to form a new band called The Fallen (interesting choice of name considering Evanescence’s first album was titled “Fallen”.) Joined by former American Idol contestant Carly Smithson, the band premiered their first single “Bury Me Alive”, on their Myspace page earlier today.

As there seem to be no concrete album plans at the moment, we’re forced to evaluate The Fallen on this one song, and quite frankly, I’m wondering what the point is. Overall, the song plays it way too safe, even by Evanescence standards. There’s hardly a daring moment to be found, with no one really stretching to challenge themselves, especially Smithson.  From start to finish, her vocals(and overall look, for that matter) shamelessly mimick Amy Lee’s, with little to no variation. It’s not that she can’t sing, but she needs to exhibit her own personality. The last thing this new band should be doing is reminding us of the band they used to be a part of.