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Come on, this is retarded and you know it. Iced Earth is Jon Schaffer. Zakk Wylde is Black Label Society. Do they classify the other members that play with them as "session musicians" just because Zakk and Jon write 99.9% of the music? No. They don't. Band members and contributing songwriters are two totally different things.
Eyesore, I hope you didn't get asked too many awkward questions when you rolled up at the hospital with a self inflicted gunshot wound to the foot! What you wrote shows that you have completely missed the point of what I've been saying about Amy Lee using Evanescence as a soapbox to cry and moan about people who have dumped on her. As an Iced Earth fan I know all about Jon Schaffer's autocratic, my way or the highway, anal retentive attitude about what goes on in Iced Earth. BUT, to my knowledge he has only written one song about anybody close to him and that was 'Watching Over Me' which was about a friend of his who was killed in a motorcycle accident. I'm sure even you will agree with me on this that this song is definitely not a moan about somebody that's dumped on him. Even on that song, the rest of the band is fully involved in its delivery - He doesn't play the guitar solo on it, he doesn't sing the lyrics and he doesn't even give one of his trademark triplet rhythm guitaring solos on it. As you used Jon Schaffer as an example, could you give me any other instances where he has used the band to piss and moan about someone who has dumped on him, and with the revolving door line up changes Iced Earth has had I'm sure there have been plenty of times he could have done it. Or, can you tell me on which album he has denegrated the rest of the band to a supporting role while he took front and centre to whine and moan about people that have pissed him off??
Zakk Wylde and Black Label Society is a different kettle of fish and you know it. I totally agree with you that Zakk writes 99.9% of BLS material, does all the singing and guitar widdly-wankery. But again I have to ask you, when has he ever used BLS as a soapbox to piss and moan about someone who has pissed him off - I'm not talking about government here, I mean a proper person or persons.
While we are on about it, let's look at Deicide. Do you agree that Glen Benton is the main man of that band? Has he not pissed and moaned about the Hoffman brothers at every opportunity for what seems like forever? Yet is 'The Stench Of Redemption' chock-full of songs on how the Hoffmans have dumped on him - Nope.
So you see, you really haven't got the gist of what I've been on about. Sure Amy Lee is frontperson of Evanescence and she writes most of the songs and stuff. My review reflected that she used the band as a soapbox to lash out at people who have pissed her off. Since this debate began, I have scoured the interweb for articles and reviews to see if anyone agrees with my review; and guess what:
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Since we last heard from the lead singer of Evanescence, with her previous album "Fallen" in 2003, she has lost more than just a few people who were close to her: during the tour for that album, Ben Moody, lead guitarist, co-founder and co-songwriter, left the band suddenly; William Boyd, the bassist, did the same three years later; and earlier this year, Lee ended a lengthy relationship with Shaun Morgan of the band Seether in a messy public breakup.
Lee alone is the main event on "The Open Door," the newest album from the band. Tumultuous relationships and loneliness manifest themselves clearly on the tracks, all of which are written by Lee in the first person. It feels as if each one is cathartic for her, and she seems to have a song for everyone.
"You know you live to break me," she accuses in "Sweet Sacrifice," apparently addressing Moody. "Are you still too weak to survive your mistakes?" A number of tracks appear to be aimed at her ex, especially the first single, "Call Me When You're Sober," and a piano number entitled "Lithium," which is sung from his apparently pathetic perspective. And in "Like You," Lee addresses her sister, who died in childhood, singing that she longs "to be like you, lie cold in the ground like you."
Rather than remain subsumed in the music and part of a larger experience, Lee grabs the reins of the musical production, making the album her own and relegating the rest of the band into obscurity. It is her voice that really gives Evanescence its edge. Her attitude on this album is more aggressive and less vulnerable than before. "I won't be held down by who I used to be," she sings in "Weight of the World."
Lee's predominance isn't always a blessing. Lacking her writing partner from the previous album, she collaborates with her new guitarist, Terry Balsamo, on a number of tracks. While she is clearly happy with the innovation, thanking her new partner in the liner notes as "someone who could finish my musical thoughts," fans might not be as thrilled. The musical content in this album leaves something to be desired.
Whoa, could have written it myself, only there's too many big words in it for me. (WTF does 'subsumed' mean??) There's more out there and many praise the album but almost without exception they all conclude that Amy Lee is singing about people who were close to her and have pissed her off. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised is Shaun Morgan sued her ass for defimation and insinuating he was a drunkard using 'Call Me When You're Sober' to do it.
My review was never about Amy Lee being the frontperson and writing most of the material for 'The Open Door'. simply the fact that she used Evanescence for something that I feel was personal and if she wanted to get all that personal shit off her chest she should have done it as a solo project!