OK, let’s boot the elephant out of the room as soon as possible. In places, We Are The Fallen sound very similar to Evanescence and that’s largely down to the fact that three band members (Ben Moody, John LeCompt and Rocky Gray) were also founding members of the aforementioned mega-popular female-fronted symphonic nu-metal act. But the impassioned vocals of Irish singer and former American Idol contestant Carly Smithson are far more potent than Amy Lee’s winsome.
Okay, album opener ‘Bury Me Alive’ sounds eerily similar to Evanescence’s ‘Bring Me To Life’ – but, on closer inspection, We Are The Fallen emerge as a much better band thanks to Carly. Adding just the right amount of grit to ‘Burn’ and ‘Through Hell’, her input lifts the material to another level. Better yet is the cinematic ‘Don’t Leave Me Behind,’ which features stabbing strings and a huge, stadium-sized chorus. And the epic ‘I Will Stay’s odd vocal line makes the song a close contender for album highlight. Question now is, can they turn the added quality into bigger hits?