#44: We Are The Fallen - Tear The World Down

Bury Me Alive
Burn
Paradigm
Don't Leave Me Behind
Sleep Well, My Angel
Through Hell
I Will Stay
Without You
St. John
I Am The Only One
Tear The World Down

All tracks wirtten by We Are The Fallen

Carly Smithson - vocals
Ben Moody - guitar, programming, piano, percussion
John LeCompt - guitar, mandolin, programming
Marty O'Brien - bass
Rocky Gray - drums
Jeremiah Gray - percussion
Daniel Moody - piano, B3
David Hodges - piano
Phillip Peterson - cello, strings on 'I Am The Only One'
Bethanie and John LeCompt II - choir vocals on 'Burn'
David Campbell - string and choir arrangement
Produced by We Are The Fallen and Dan Certa

Label: Universal Republic

Debuting in June 2009, We Are The Fallen is made up of former Evanescence members Ben Moody, John LeCompt and Rocky Gray, session musician Marty O'Brien, and former American Idol contestant Carly Smithson. Not only did Carly sing a note-perfect version of Evanescence's 'Bring Me To Life' whilst on American Idol, she also bears a striking resemblance to that band's Amy Lee. This should tell you all you need to know about this band's motivations.
It's no secret that part of the reason for the dissolution of Amy's friendship with Ben was because of her efforts to grow as a musician and produce more ambitious music conflicting with his insistence on only releasing radio-friendly material and staying firmly in one place musically. If Moody's taking on songwriting gigs for the likes of Avril Lavigne and Anastacia immediately after his departure from Evanescence didn't confirm Lee's claims in this regard to people, We Are The Fallen can't fail to. Not only are the band essentially a copy and paste of 'Fallen' era Evanescence - with a name that seems to controversially imply that it was their input into that album that made it so successful - but the album retreads the exact same ground.
This sounds pretty negative so far, but it works. If they plan to carry on long-term, releasing essentially the same album all the time will get very old, very fast, but for now this is very enjoyable. I don't think much of Carly's attempts to carve herself out as a 'rock chick' when she was a participant in pretty much the least rock n' roll show in television history (Glee may have just taken this title from them now)... but she does have a fantastic voice - in some ways even better than the woman whose boots she's filling. I'm yet to be convinced by her songwriting ability... they don't say who wrote what in the credits, and I have a suspicion that everything was written before the band started looking for a singer. Probably because the band's debut single - 'Bury Me Alive' - is so blatantly aimed by Ben at his former bandmate that they might as well have called it 'Fuck Amy!'.
The main question, however, is... how does it stand up against Evanescence's material? Does it match up to 'The Open Door', in which Amy got to call the shots and created an album equally ambitious and commercial that I get the impression was what she intended 'Fallen' to sound like in the first place? The simple answer is no... but only just. This is a very strong effort, and easily outclasses the album that provided them with their name. They might be retreading old ground, but they've treading it a lot more confidently now. Let's hope if they ever release a follow-up they try to do something different, though.

Listen Here: We Are The Fallen – Tear The World Down