Evanescence – The Bitter Truth Album Review

During the global pandemic, the artists met their inner voices and rediscovered different muses because they had to cancel and put off their live performances by mostly rescheduling them to 2022. Evanescence members were also one of the rock stars who spent COVID-19 lockdown writing new lyrics and focused on their new studio album.

Since the release of ‘Synthesis’ in 2017, the fans have been waiting impatiently for the upcoming fifth album of Evanescence. The band made us very excited revealing that the release of the album was very close on December 2020. Finally, the four years of waiting ended with ‘The Bitter Truth’ on March 26, 2021. But, was it worth it?

The answer is definitely yes.‘The Bitter Truth’ took the fans back to the good old days when they first listened to ‘My Immortal’ and ‘Bring Me To Life’ as a little kid. It felt like old wine in a brand new bottle. However, this sense of nostalgia didn’t harm the uniqueness of the album. Not only the album’s sounds and the lyrics remind the time of ‘Fallen’ but also they defined the new era of Evanescence.

‘The Bitter Truth’ is based on the journey of the band members from a catastrophic and painful past to a future full of hope and happiness. In almost every lyric of the album, there is a strong figure who rose from the ashes and rebuilt itself. If you combine the titles of the tracks in one paragraph, you will understand what they want to tell us about themselves and ourselves. The only negative aspect of the album is the mixing problem which leads lack of harmony between the vocals and instruments. Most of the time, Lee’s voice is too low in volume.

Although almost every song of ‘The Bitter Truth,’ is very distinguishing, ‘Broken Pieces Shine’ and ‘Feeding The Dark’ are one step ahead of the others. In ‘Broken Pieces Shine,’ the band goes back to their hard rock style with Amy Lee’s brutal Soprano voice. It is a reflection of sadness, anger, and rising from the ashes. The usage of the guitars and drums feel like a ‘Bring Me to Life’ without the iconic back vocal. Also the second favorite, ‘Feeding The Dark’ has a deep and intense style and felt like a ‘Lithium’ and Within Temptation’s ‘Memories’ mash-up along with keeping its uniqueness.

Moreover, Artifact/The Turn has a very different style from the other songs on the album. It takes everyone to an alternative Cyberpunk universe which full of the far East atmosphere. It felt like a soft punch to the face. The songs that liked the least are ‘The Game Is Over’ and ‘Yeah Right.’ ‘The Game Is Over’ has been found too metal for the alternative rock style of Evanescence and ‘Yeah Right’ has been found too fast and very close to electronic music. They can be considered experimental projects of the band.

Consequently, Evanescence’s latest album, ‘The Bitter Truth,’ reminds the fans of their first time when they came across the band’s iconic songs. But they also have created new masterpieces that you can listen to it in an endless loop like you did when you were younger.