The Bitter Truth by Evanescence

The Bitter Truth, Evanescence's fifth studio album, finally landed through BMG on March 26, 2021, after the pandemic pushed it back. It follows Synthesis, the 2017 set that dressed old songs in orchestral and electronic arrangements, and it trades that grandeur for weight: with Nick Raskulinecz producing, this is mostly alternative metal, Amy Lee's voice soaring over churning guitars instead of strings.

It's also the sound of a band answering to nobody, since Lee and Evanescence had walked away from their label back in 2014. She's flanked by the players who'd stood beside her for well over a decade, bassist Tim McCord, guitarist Troy McLawhorn and drummer Will Hunt, and they hit like a unit rather than a backing band. Critics were mostly warm, and the album cracked the top ten on album charts in several countries.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.