EVANESCENCE Is 'More Than Halfway' Through Making Of Next Album: 'We're Really Getting There'

At this past weekend's Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, Kentucky, EVANESCENCE singer Amy Lee spoke to PK of the ALT 105.1 radio station about the setlist for the band's current run of shows. She said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We're in this kind of in-between phase right now because we were touring our last album, 'The Bitter Truth', for quite a while and doing a show that had, obviously, songs from all the other albums, but it was centered around that theme and started with that intro and was that thing. And we're midway through the process of making our next album now. So we just have a handful of shows this year, and it's that moment where we're, like, 'Well, we can't just like do the old thing anymore,' and 'we can't do the new songs…' Well, we have two new songs, and we can work them in. But it's kind of — I don't know — it's a weird teenager phase of what we're doing. It is fun, though. It's perfect for the festival setup, 'cause if we have — like tonight we have an hour. We can jam-pack an hour full of cool [stuff], like a hit from every album and just make it really fun."

After PK asked Amy to elaborate on her comment that EVANESCENCE was "halfway through the process on the next album", Lee clarified: "I'd say we're more than halfway. We're really getting there. [I'm] really excited about it."

Asked if EVANESCENCE's recent single "Afterlife", from the Netflix series "Devil May Cry", will appear on the band's next album, Lee said: "I think so. I don't see why not. We haven't really gotten into the track list and that yet, but I think we have all the songs that are gonna be on it at least started, so we're in that moment of finessing and beautifying and writing lyrics and doing the hard stuff where I slam my head up against the wall."

Earlier this month, Lee, SPIRITBOX's Courtney LaPlante and Poppy joined forces on a brand new single, "End Of You", out now via Sumerian Records.

This past July, Lee told Kevin Ryder and Megan Holiday of the KROQ radio station that she and her EVANESCENCE bandmates were "just full speed ahead, making stuff, putting stuff out, doing stuff on the side. We're in a super just energized creatively mode this year."

Lee went on to say that she doesn't "like to set" a release date for an album "until it's really done. So, we're recording now. We're writing now. We're doing this album kind of in a way that is very freeform. We have a few songs with one producer, we have a few songs with another one over here. We're just doing whatever feels good. No rules except what the song wants."

Earlier in July, EVANESCENCE and alt-rock visionary K.Flay released the video for their song "Fight Like A Girl". The track plays over the end credits of "Ballerina", the latest film set in the world of "John Wick", now available on PVOD. The clip was helmed by Chad Stahelski, director of the "John Wick" films and producer of "Ballerina".

EVANESCENCE will embark on a tour of Australia and New Zealand at the end of October, including several shows as the support act for METALLICA.

In 2003, when the rock charts were dominated by predominantly male nü-metal and post-grunge acts, a young female-fronted band from Arkansas stood out from the crowd, offering something entirely new. They were EVANESCENCE — and with their debut album, "Fallen", they transformed the rock landscape. Led by Lee, EVANESCENCE's cinematic blend of metal and symphonic, piano-driven melodies captured a generation, while "Fallen" set the band on a path to global superstardom, earning them multiple Grammys, and becoming one of the highest-selling albums of all time.

Released in the spring of 2003, "Fallen" resonated deeply with fans, selling more than 141,000 copies in its first week and peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, where it spent an astonishing 43 weeks in the Top 10. Within a month, "Fallen" was certified platinum by the RIAA, while it was a Top 10 hit in more than ten countries, reaching No. 1 in the U.K., Canada, Australia, and across Europe. Much of the album's initial success can be attributed to its stratospheric singles, including "Bring Me to Life", which broke the Top 10 in more than 15 countries and topped Billboard's Mainstream Top 40 and Alternative Airplay charts. "My Immortal" was a Top 10 hit in over ten countries, including the U.S., U.K. and Australia.

At the 2004 Grammys, EVANESCENCE received five nominations, including "Album Of The Year", "Best Rock Album", "Best Hard Rock Performance" for "Bring Me To Life", and "Best New Artist", taking home the latter two. The following year, "My Immortal" received a nod for "Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals".

Today, "Fallen" holds steady as the sixth best-selling album of the 21st century (ranking just behind Lady Gaga's "The Fame" and ahead of COLDPLAY's "A Rush Of Blood To The Head") and remains one of the best-selling albums of all time, with more than 17 million copies sold worldwide. In 2022, "Fallen" received a rare diamond certification from the RIAA, which recognizes 10 million units in U.S. album sales. As a testament to the album's enduring appeal, the video for "Bring Me To Life" surpassed 1.6 billion views on YouTube, making it one of the most-watched rock videos of all-time while "My Immortal" follows close behind.

To date, EVANESCENCE has released a total of five studio albums, including the multi-platinum "The Open Door" (2004) and "Evanescence" (2011),both of which topped the Billboard 200. In 2021, the band thrilled fans with their first album of new material in a decade, "The Bitter Truth". Now more than 20 years on, EVANESCENCE continues to scale new heights. Featuring a lineup of Amy Lee (vocals, keyboards),Tim McCord (guitar/bass),Will Hunt (drums),Troy McLawhorn (guitars) and Emma Anzai (bass, backing vocals),the band continues to travel the globe, staging some of the most successful shows of their career, including Allianz Parque, a soccer stadium in Sāo Paulo, Brasil, which was the biggest headline show of EVANESCENCE's career to date, drawing 40,000 fans.