Album Review: Evanescence's 'Synthesis' lacks oomph

If you are of a certain age then there's a chance that rock band Evanescence propelled you through your angsty teenage years with a gorgeously melodramatic fury.

Since 2011 the band have been on something of a sabbatical but they are back with the new(ish) Synthesis, an album that is exactly what we've come to expect from the band until you realise it isn't.

As the name suggests, the album is less of a new album and more of a reworked amalgamation of all their classics garnished with two new tracks.

Lead singer Amy Lee's operatic voice floats and glides through sections when the songs ebb before bursting into its full radiance when the crescendo calls for it. Don't expect the customary power chords and big drums kind of crescendo, though. The songs have all been stripped down and given a more orchestral feel. They feel more like they belong on a movie soundtrack as opposed to blaring out of a teenager's sound system.

WATCH | The music video for Imperfection by Evanescence

One of the positives of this new, more theatrical tack that the band has taken is that it further highlights Amy Lee's stellar songwriting. Somehow she manages to make sorrow sound like honey. The combination of her song-writing and voice could probably get Barney the purple dinosaur to shed a tear for a lost love.

Unfortunately, a full album's worth of orchestral lamentations begins to wear a little thin after a while. Where it is good it's good but one often finds oneself missing the visceral drum and guitar driven climaxes that made Evanescence so compelling.

Synthesis lacks oomph and that is something I thought I would say about one of the most oomph-laden bands of the early 2000s

• 'Synthesis' is available for streaming on Apple Music.

• This article was originally published in The Times.