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THE BITTER TRUTH by EVANESCENCE.
Evanescence- the Amy Lee fronted classic band- had been stout and empowering in the face of a delayed album cycle in 2020, gifting us with its first run of hits in the form of WASTED ON YOU, THE GAME IS OVER, USE MY VOICE and that wonderful cover of CRUEL SUMMER( turning the cheesy 1980s song into a resonant piano ballad at home with Lee's best from her decades old omnibus)
A heartwrenching piano ballad becomes the mainstay of the entire album THE BITTER TRUTH, released in March, 2021. Yes, true to her curve of emotional breadth on such classics as HELLO, MY IMMORTAL, GOOD ENOUGH , MY HEART IS BROKEN and LOST IN PARADISE from the three preceding Evanescence albums in close to two decades (save for 2017's orchestral filigree to its catalogue with the revisionist SYNTHESIS), FAR FROM HEAVEN is vintage Amy. It will hold you in absolute thrall by its melody, albeit with an opening reminiscent of and uncannily identical to LOST IN PARADISE's beautiful bridge. By the end of its journey of coming to terms with loss and pain, it will leave us in stunned silence, marveling at the manner in which Lee interprets and phrases, articulates the very bulwark of melancholy like only she can.
Coming on top of something that has become one of my own favourites from the band's collective omnibus, BETTER WITHOUT YOU is edgier and true to its rock-metal origins. The melody is still memorable, with the vocal modulations and instrumental power conflating seamlessly. It's another vintage Evanescence offering that will send our spirits soaring a notch higher even in the most downcast personal moment of lethargy.
Then comes BLIND BELIEF that plays with the unhurried beauty of the piano and then breaks out of the mould with Lee's impassioned shriek of catharsis, building a wonderful showcase for rejecting power structures and patriarchal hang-ups, emphasising on the core of redemption in the process with due diligence.
PART OF ME only adds fuel to the fire ignited by this socially conscious album that packs in a punch without abandoning the band's sound and usual quality of first- rate production.
THE BITTER TRUTH is hence a complete package and to see its successful output makes me so happy as a lifelong fan and admirer of the outfit. So take note.
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CHOSEN FAMILY by RINA SAWAYAMA and SIR ELTON JOHN.
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A LETTERED SOUL: REFLECTIONS ON LITERATURE, CINEMA AND CULTURE .
Non-FictionI have often wondered about the very curdled natures of our opinions so much so that the perch of imagination simply becomes a bystanding abstraction and real thoughts of genuine merit slip between the fingers. That is a human tendency, to beat arou...
