In the fall of 2003, guitarist Ben Moody left Evanescence in the middle of their European tour. The October 22 concert in Berlin was his last: a few days later, the musician flew back to the United States without waiting for the tour to end. The decision looked almost suicidal—the debut album Fallen was selling millions of copies, while tickets were disappearing from box offices within hours. Vocalist Amy Lee continued the tour with Terry Balsamo of Cold. Evanescence lost one of its founders at the height of its ascent, but the band did not break up.
The band’s story began in 1995 in Little Rock, Arkansas. Lee and Moody met at a Christian youth camp: he heard her playing the Meat Loaf song I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That) on the piano. The duo quickly found common ground. Amy’s Gothic melodies, Ben’s heavy riffs, and their distinctly dark lyrics did not fit easily into the repertoire of school bands—but they stood out against the local rock scene.
The name Evanescence translates as “disappearance” or “fading away.” Before settling on it, the musicians considered Childish Intentions and Stricken. At first, there was no permanent live lineup: Lee and Moody recorded material with guest performers, while local radio stations played their early song Understanding. In 1998, they released the Evanescence EP, followed a year later by the Sound Asleep EP. Their editions numbered in the dozens and hundreds of copies. Today, collectors pay sums for these discs that their creators would have considered indecent in the late 1990s.
The demo album Origin, released in 2000 by Bigwig Enterprises in a run of approximately 2,500 copies, attracted the attention of producer Pete Matthews. Following his recommendation, Evanescence signed with Wind-up Records. The label did not rush them: the musicians were given time to refine the songs and prepare for a major debut. Rocky Gray took over on drums, John LeCompt played guitar, and Will Boyd became the bassist.
Fallen was recorded with producer Dave Fortman and released on March 4, 2003. Before its release, however, a dispute erupted over Bring Me to Life. Wind-up executives feared that radio stations would not accept a track with only female vocals and insisted on adding a male part. It was performed by Paul McCoy of 12 Stones. Amy Lee opposed the rap-rock section, but the compromise turned the song into the album’s biggest hit. The single topped the UK chart, while its appearance in the film Daredevil gave Evanescence an audience far beyond the metal scene.
Fallen reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and remained on the chart for more than two years. In the United States, the album received a diamond certification, while worldwide sales exceeded 17 million copies. At the 2004 Grammy Awards, the band won in the categories of Best New Artist and Best Hard Rock Performance for Bring Me to Life. The next single, the piano ballad My Immortal, finally destroyed the convenient label of “just another nu-metal band.”
Behind the commercial success was a conflict between the two songwriters. Lee wanted to move the music away from straightforward nu metal toward more complex orchestration, while Moody preferred the debut’s formula. After his departure, Amy effectively became Evanescence’s sole creative center. In 2004, the live release Anywhere but Home appeared, recorded at the Le Zénith venue in Paris.
Work on the second studio album proved difficult. In November 2005, Terry Balsamo suffered a stroke caused, doctors said, by a blood clot in a neck artery. The guitarist partially lost movement on the left side of his body, but returned to the recording after rehabilitation. Dave Fortman produced the record again. The Open Door appeared on October 3, 2006, and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, selling approximately 447,000 copies in the United States during its first week.
The album sounded freer than its predecessor. In Call Me When You're Sober, Lee described her relationship with Seether’s Shaun Morgan with little disguise; in Lacrymosa, she used fragments of Mozart’s “Requiem.” The lineup continued to fracture: Will Boyd left in 2006, while John LeCompt and Rocky Gray were fired in the spring of 2007. They were replaced by Dark New Day members Troy McLawhorn and Will Hunt.
After an extended break, Evanescence released their self-titled album in October 2011. Producer Nick Raskulinecz, who had worked with Foo Fighters, Deftones, and Alice in Chains, focused on the dense sound of the full ensemble. The record debuted at the top of the Billboard 200, but another hiatus followed the tour. Amy Lee turned to solo soundtracks and motherhood, while the band’s relationship with Wind-up Records ended in a legal dispute. In 2014, the singer announced that she was independent of the label.
In 2017, Synthesis was released—older songs were re-recorded with an orchestra and electronic rhythms. It was not an ordinary greatest-hits collection: the guitars almost disappeared, and Bring Me to Life finally sounded without the male rap section once imposed on it. The concert tour took place with symphony orchestras, which for a rock band meant a daily struggle with acoustics, rehearsal schedules, and dozens of local musicians.
The fifth studio album, The Bitter Truth, was released on March 26, 2021. Raskulinecz produced it again, while the recording stretched out because of the COVID-19 pandemic: songs were released one at a time while the members could not gather in the studio. The material brought back heavy guitars, but without trying to reproduce 2003 exactly. In 2022, Jen Majura left the lineup; bassist Tim McCord moved to guitar, and Emma Anzai of Sick Puppies took over on bass.
Of the original duo, only Amy Lee remains in Evanescence. Over three decades, guitarists, drummers, bassists, producers, and labels have changed around her. The piano—that same weapon which looked almost defiant in the nu-metal era—never disappeared.
