My favorite artists top out at a couple hundred thousand monthly Spotify listeners with many in the four and five digit realm. At 25 million monthly listeners, Evanescence is on the order of 100 times, with gusts up to 25,000 times, more popular than my favorite artists. Those are a lot of ears listening to Amy Lee and her alternative metal band. Why should my opinion in that ocean matter? Maybe because like some of you, I wrote them off a while ago.

Evanescence is an odd duck in that they have managed to keep the popular vote through a somewhat non-contiguous career with band leader Amy Lee taking time out for solo work, therapy, and personal recollection. But it is most likely this cycle of retreat and creation that has led to their music resonating with the masses, where music is healing and the lens to reconcile the broken world with an internal conviction of something better. The fact that so many are hurting is likely why Evanescence is popular. Shedding light on the importance of mental health and use of Christian imagery have led to quite a following in the Christian music sphere.

“Sanctuary” has a dark undercurrent in its presentation and the reddish coloring fits well the outrage that bubbles underneath. Apparently born from political distress, there is a clear disgust directed at unnamed people along the way, but not without a hope in something better. The sound feels much at home within alternative and gothic metal, with a couple of ballads to provide contrast. Although the musical texture is dense, the message is deeper.

The music is emotionally deep and can be quite daunting taken all at once. Amy is unpacking a lot of toxic emotions and making sense of them in front of our ears. There are plenty of relationship-focused songs such as “Beautiful Lie” and “Calm Down,” but also boiling rage around the 2024 Trump election in “About Us” and yearning for completeness in “How Do I Heal.” Both “Afterlife” and “Rapture” give the closest in terms of spiritual food, shining a little hope in a sea of seething anger.

There is an industrial flavor to the mix with plenty use of synths and electronic elements hiding the more traditional rock instruments. Strings often add depth as musical textures drive songs with a focus on the atmosphere, like a film score. For example the grooving, even strutting, “Tell Me When” and the haunted house of “Rapture” share similar musical language, but present very differently. Even so, there is an ever present emotional pull to the melodies and harmonies to draw the listener close as the words pour out. The exceptions to the dense textures are the two ballads, “How Do I Heal” and “Forever Without You,” that have a stripped down instrumentation of keys and voice with light support.

The songwriting has a cinematic quality that flows effortlessly through longer run times that hit the sweet spot for me. The tempo never really gets beyond a jaunty shuffle, but that allows for the low end to sweep, drop, and boom, most evident on “Calm Down.” The musical focus is to support Amy’s voice where the metal elements are garnishing rather than the main course. To that end, Amy engages with her alto voice quite well with excellent use of dynamics to float through the flowing songs. Even the piano ballads, a genre run into the ground, is disarmingly intimate as an intermezzo to the angry music.

The Japanese version has two extra songs. One is an even more bare version of “Forever Without You” which feels much like staring out at a lake in the wilderness with no one around. Rather haunting. This is then followed up with “Fight Like A Girl” which then throws the listener into a dusty dirty cage match of a song featuring guest rapping from artist K. Flay and one of the only guitar flourishes on the record.

I picked up “The Open Door” several years ago at a good price. I never could get into it for some reason, often abandoning listens before the end. However 20 years later, “Sanctuary” shows a significant jump in songwriting, the synergy between band and voice, and production where I have been able to incrementally immerse into the album with each listening. There is quite a bit to unpack both musically and lyrically. If like me you wrote off Evanescence but enjoy deep, dark, heavy, wallowing industrial-infused rock, “Sanctuary” is a great album to reacquaint with this titan of the music industry.

Rating: 8.5/10

Written by Sean Bailey

Tracklist:

1 – Beautiful Lie
2 – Tell Me When You’ve Had Enough
3 – Who Will You Follow
4 – Rapture
5 – Afterlife
6 – Sanctuary
7 – How Do I Heal
8 – About Us
9 – Calm Down
10 – Self Destruct
11 – Forever Without You
12 – Wide Open Heart
13 – Forever Without You (Solo version)
14 – Fight Like A Girl (feat. K Flay)

Evanescence is:
Amy Lee – vocals, keys, string arrangement
Troy McLawhorn – guitar
Emma Anzai – bass
Tim McCord – guitar
Will Hunt – drums

Release Date: June 5, 2026

Record Label: BMG

Discography:
Fallen (2003)
The Open Door (2006)
Evanescence (2011)
Synthesis (2017)
The Bitter Truth (2021) [review]
Sanctuary (2026)

Social Media: Website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Spotify | Bandcamp

Afterlife (Official Video)

Who Will You Follow (Official Music Video)