Evanescence

Evanescence is the third studio album by American rock band Evanescence, released on October 7, 2011 by Wind-up Records. The band began writing the album in June 2009. Its release was delayed several times; on February 22, 2010, the band entered the studio with producer Steve Lillywhite but later stopped working with him because he "wasn't the right fit". At the time the album was scheduled for an August or September 2010 release, but lead singer Amy Lee later announced that Evanescence had postponed recording to write more material. In April 2011, they returned to the studio with producer Nick Raskulinecz. Evanescence is the first Evanescence album to be written as a band, with Lee, guitarists Terry Balsamo and Troy McLawhorn, bassist Tim McCord and drummer Will Hunt co-writing the music together. It is the last album the band recorded under Wind-Up.

According to Lee, the band brought influences from Björk, Depeche Mode, Massive Attack, MGMT, and Portishead to the album. Evanescence's songs contain sounds and influences characteristic of nu metal, hard rock, and symphonic metal. The album received generally positive reviews from music critics, and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart with 127,000 copies sold in its first week. It also topped four other Billboard charts: Rock Albums, Digital Albums, Alternative Albums, and Hard Rock Albums. The album was successful worldwide, appearing on the charts of over 20 countries. The band promoted Evanescence by premiering songs online on a number of websites and appearing on several television shows.

The first single from the album, "What You Want", was released on August 9, 2011; "My Heart Is Broken", the album's second single, was released on November 11. "Lost in Paradise" was released internationally as its third single on May 25, 2012, and "The Other Side" was serviced to US modern rock radio stations as a promotional single on June 11. In 2011 the band embarked on the Evanescence Tour, their third worldwide tour, to promote the album with The Pretty Reckless and Fair to Midland.