EVANESCENCE's AMY LEE Explains Decision To Release Pre-'Fallen' Material

EVANESCENCE will release a career-spanning vinyl box set this fall containing all three of the band's official studio albums, including 2003's "Fallen", 2006's "The Open Door" and 2011's "Evanescence", and, for the first time ever, the commercial debut for the previously unreleased 2000 demo album "Origin". Also included in "The Ultimate Collection" six-LP set is a collection called "The Lost Whispers", which officially compiles the band's rare bonus tracks and features the studio version of the long-sought-after tour intro "Lost Whispers".

"The Lost Whispers" will also feature the first new EVANESCENCE studio recording in years, "Even In Death (2016)", a new version of a song that initially appeared on "Origin". The box set also includes a 52-page casebound book featuring art, handwritten lyrics, photos and rarities.

Asked by AltWire what influenced her to finally properly release the music she recorded before the arrival of "Fallen", EVANESCENCE singer Amy Lee said: "I think part of it is just having enough time and space in-between 'me now' and 'me then.' I'm not worried at this point that somebody is going to be confused, and that's going to define me, if that makes sense. I was asked 'do we want to or not' when I first started about making this box-set thing, and my gut initial thought was, 'No! No way! I'm never going to release that!' But then I thought, 'You know what? As a fan… I get why that's cool.' And I went back and I listened to it, and I was still cringing but I can see the beauty in it, y'know, as the very beginnings of what eventually became EVANESCENCE, and me and who I am today. It's all those beginning little 'buds.' So, I don't know, I guess growing up a bit and having a little distance from it, I think it's really cool if I can step outside of myself and my perfectionism just a bit and hear it as a fan. As a fan, I want that, y'know, and I want to give that to our fans. There are a lot of requests out there for it and I want to make them happy. So, screw it! It's only vinyl! [laughs]"

Amy also talked about the decision to re-record "Even In Death" after so many years. She explained: "I just listened to 'Origin' in its entirety for the first time in many years, and I was just kind of searching for something. Because for all the other albums we have b-sides, there's songs that didn't make the cut. There is a whole disc full of b-sides for that. But there wasn't anything for 'Origin', because it's, y'know, our early stuff, and I didn't want to put a weird old demo on there. I wanted it to be something of some level of quality. [Laughs] So I listened through, and I was, like, 'You know what? Is there anything here that can kind of still stand up enough for me to get behind it emotionally and re-record it?' 'Even In Death' was that song for me. I think that the production of the old version was really 'tinny' — like rough and cheesy, because we're just sort of kids! We were just kind of learning and trying to experiment to find ways to get the emotion across that we were trying to express, and it was pretty over dramatic. But being able to listen to it through (or past) the production, and into the heart of the song itself and the lyrics, I still love it, y'know? So I just stripped it down and did it in a new way, and treated it with the same feeling and emotion and ability that I have now, and did the same treatment that I would give any new song. And that felt really good to do, because I've only had that old version for so many years. I don't even know how long. It's 2016… so that's about twenty years ago, which is a really crazy thing to say. In fact, that is how old it is, that song is 20 years old. So to be able to take that 20 years later and create a version of it that I really love, and I'm not just sharing all the mistakes… I shouldn't say mistakes — all the flaws and the things I wish I could change about it, well… I just did! That like, to me, the song I redeemed and it might as well be new again. I love it again. So I'm very excited to share that one, for sure."

EVANESCENCE went on hiatus after touring for the release of its 2011 self-titled record. During that time, Lee gave birth to her son, Jack, and worked on both solo and soundtrack music.

EVANESCENCE did tour last November and again earlier this year, and will head out this fall on a month-long run of shows beginning October 28 in Dallas.

Although Lee has not indicated if the band will make a new studio album anytime soon, she did say in an interview with Loudwire, "There is EVANESCENCE in the future."