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fkapommel · 1 month

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I believe that it is thematically necessary for griddlehark full lyctorhood, or on Harrowhark Christ

Together, Harrow and Gideon complete the symbolism of Christ. You have the obvious Christographic imagery in the start and end of Gideon's life: she is a "virgin" birth, a genetic product of God without any sexual interaction between her mother and father; she was concieved in order to die, specifically to be sacrificed to save the souls - in a literal and metaphorical sense - of the innocent, i.e. non-necros; and she died ultimately by her own choice, dying with the use of pentrative weapons.

But Harrow is literally the "child of man" - she is the cumulation of a generation, not one but many, the many made one. Harrow resembles young Jesus debating and educating the priests of the Temple, already knowing more about the arts of the spirit, of life and death, than his teachers as an infant. Both are prodigies of their craft. And Harrow, in her soup making era, pulled off the Eucharist, transforming Mithraeum family dinner night into sacrifical, (not metaphysical) cannibalism night. Though both G & H have lain entombed and miraculously resurected, it was Harrow that descended into Hell to interact with the dead (more on this when ATN reveals what she did in Hell).

In one way, this creates friction, a literary rivalry, between the two characters. Who is more Jesus-like? Who is more central to the narrative? I argue that its in merging them that we see a clearer narrative reflection of the scriptural material of both the physical book series and the religio-imperalist model Jod based his empire on. This meta-textual symbolism HAS to be incorporated within the narrative itself given the device of lyctohood, wherein two souls literally meld to become inseperable and indistinguishable. By becoming full lyctors (and seperately i suspect that theyll become perfect lyctor numero dos), the Christographic symbolism embodied by both Gideon and Harrow will become literal and plot relevant, and solidify their lyctorhood not just as a narrative goalpost, a "hell yea" moment for the reader, or a completion of the main narrative conflict of their constant division. Their merging via the Eightfold Path will be semi-prophetic and imbued with religious significance as they both represent a halved Christ.

Gideon and Harrow HAVE to become full/perfect lyctors not just to release the symphonic tension of their constant coming togethers and going aparts, but to complete the image of a divided messiah.

Tldr: yes gideon is jesus, but harrow is jesus too and together they make Double Jesus. Jesus pt. 2 WILL become canon via full or perfect lyctorization!!!

Edit: I do NOT think ATN will /end/ with lyctor!griddlehark; thats just not in character for either of them, nor would that provide a morally satisfying end that is in contrast to Jod's ethos. I believe they will uncover the process and either temporarily inhabit full/perfect lyctorhood, find a way to balance their soul melange equally, or sever their soul bond completely (worst option!) Them uncovering the truth to lyctorhood, however, is necessary to resolve (meta)narrative tension.

#this is my reasoning for the related bullet point on my ATN theories post #and literally if this doesnt happen......#no its gonna happen #it cant NOT happen #but come back to point and laugh while im in the stocks after atn comes out #orrr come back to worship me as the reincarnated oracle of delphi #(its ok either way i like tomatoes)#tlt #the locked tomb #gideon the ninth #gideon nav #harrowhark nonagesimus #mine

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simplydnp · 1 month

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Why is everyone rooting for it takes two? Tbh its one of my least fav gaming videos. I havent even watched the whole thing bc i get bored… why do yall like it so much??

i am so sorry you feel this way bc it takes two is one of the Best dapg we have ever gotten--revival run or otherwise.

despite dnp's arguably most popular playthrough (undertale) being composed of long videos, dapg doesn't generally post Long videos. so it's sheer length of 52 minutes is a revelation.

combine that with gameplay that both of them get to partake in, and you already know you're in for an excellent ride. again, they don't generally play a lot of 2 player computer games, despite us knowing they spend a Lot of time gaming together, so already it feels special since they both get to play.

the game itself is very dnp-coded, which they even comment on. it's a creative exploration through an emotional and difficult time, and yet, it still has time for humour, teamwork, and enjoyment. this game is a Journey--that's the whole point. and dnp are Very good at navigating it, in the way they do things best: together. (and you can't tell me phil's multiple 'i am your husBaand' didn't rewire your brain)

the grandness of the it takes two video is in their synchronicity. we've got video evidence of them struggling to play co-op games together--they even think it's going to go poorly, as it takes two has a Reputation for being quite difficult, particularly the boss battles. there's a reason it's the marraige counselling game, in a sense. and yet they skated through it. constantly on the same page. it's symphonic.

alongside that it's just a pleasure to sit down and watch. the bants are on point, the vibes are focused but chill, and the length of the video plus the quick turnaround upload speed during gamingmas meant that there wasn't a lot of editing to distract or disrupt the vibe. it's a very raw and unfiltered dnp--it's cozy. there's something about it that's just calming for the soul.

i enjoy getting to feel the Flow of a story, especially alongside the people i'm watching play it. despite the varied environments and quick-paced sections, i never felt lost in regards to the narrative (unlike their Brothers video). but still, there was high-octane moments! space for bants! a little bit of a respite in all the chaos.

maybe i need to say it with my full chest but trust and communication are my kink and no dnp upload demonstrate this better than it takes two. as fond as i am of dan's outbursts and yelling, there is nothing like watching dnp on the same page just absolutely crushing a task. there's a time and a place for both, but i much prefer them both having a good time as opposed to constantly bickering over something (hence my preference for the it takes two gameplay compared to the bread & fred video, though i'm curious your take on that particular video as it's quite the contrast)

almost everyone Knows what we come to dapg for, and it's not usually the gaming. this video takes that and makes the gaming Part of it in the best way possible.

plus, i'm eagerly awaiting them clickbaiting us with another insane title like 'dan and phil get divorced' was. truly excellent no notes.

#thank you anon for providing me something to do whilst waiting for an upload today #so sorry about your it2 related illness and i hope you recover quickly #(that's a joke but also. i do hope you can appreciate it bc it really is so good)#dnp #dan and phil #c.text #answered #phan #<- for the fandometrics

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osiris-iii-bc · 5 months

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Papa’s playlists - music headcanons

Sometimes when I listen to music I mentally associate what I’m listening to the Papas, so I thought it would have been fun to imagine a 10 songs playlist for/of each Papa. I have chosen the songs by their personalities, the kind of music they have done and the general vibes I get when I listen to the songs.

Primo:

I see him sitting on his couch by the fire, immersed in his voluminous, rich vestments. He can listen to the heaviest doom metal tune without moving an inch of his body, fully immersed in understanding the lyrics, but 70s rock always brings back his old memories of when he used to throw small parties in his chamber whenever the Beatles or his favorite bands released a new LP.

The Beatles - Come together

Black Sabbath - Iron Man

Mayhem - Freezing moon

The Rolling Stones - Start me up

Candlemass - Bewitched

Bathory - A fine day to die

Mercyful fate - Evil

The animals - House of the rising sun

Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss

Diamond Head - Am I Evil?

Secondo:

He has two sides: the old-school metalhead and the devoted enthusiast of good old symphonic music. He prepares himself a cigar and settles at his desk, embracing the darkness like the nocturnal creature he is, to work on papers or perhaps write some lyrics inspired by his favorite arias. In his playlist, you can always find something classy followed by something extremely heavy.

Led Zeppelin - Kashmir

Slayer - South of Heaven

Venom - Don’t burn the witch

Giuseppe Verdi - Dies Irae/Tuba Mirum

Deep Purple - Perfect Strangers

King Diamond - The family ghost

The Doors - Riders on the storm

Guns and Roses - Coma

Bobby Vinton - Blue velvet

Antonio Vivaldi - Four Seasons

Terzo:

Ah, Terzo. Whether he's completing his nighttime skincare routine, getting dressed for a mass, preparing for a date, or simply relaxing in his chambers with a good wine, he always has a record playing in the background. He's not a headbanger, but he likes to keep the tempo with his hands. He taps his fingers on his thigh to match the drum tempo of most rhythmic songs or moves his hands softly to the sound of the mellower ones, like when he listens to "Barcelona," adjusting his hand movements based on the virtuosity of the voices.

Candlemass - Well of Souls

The struts - Kiss this

Metallica - Until it sleeps

Metallica - For whom the bell tolls

Kreator - People of the lie

Freddie Mercury feat Montserrat Caballe - Barcelona

David Bowie - Starman

Pentagram - Sign of the wolf

Sepoltura - Dead embryonic cells

Mercyful fate - Witches dance

Copia:

I can totally picture Copia putting on something groovy like "Stuck In The Middle With You" while attempting to cook something, swaying his hips to the rhythm and inevitably either burning whatever is in the pan or creating a mess on the counter by dropping bottles and food.

Alice Cooper - Poison

Iron Maiden - Run to the hills

Steppenwolf - Born to be wild

Dead or Alive - You spin me round

Black Sabbath - Paranoid

Judas Priest - Painkiller

The Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the devil

Stealers wheel - Stuck in the middle with you

The Darkness - Love is only a feeling

Bon Jovi - You give love a bad name

Nihil:

An old-school rocker. He would pick you up in his car with Led Zeppelin playing at full volume, take you to a bar where he puts on your favorite song in the jukebox, and by the time you come back from the toilet, he's kissing some random girl right at the bar counter. He would later apologize, claiming he was just drunk and thought that was you… a red flag you'll ignore.

The Doors - Touch me

Led Zeppelin - Whole lotta love

Elton John - Tiny dancer

Ozzy Osburne - Crazy train

Deep Purple - Child in time

Deep Purple - Hush

Jefferson airplane - White rabbit

Elvis Presley - Suspicious minds

The Rolling Stones - Paint it black

The Beatles - Helter Skelter

#the band ghost #ghost band #ghost headcanons #papa emeritus i #papa emeritus ii #papa emeritus iii #papa emeritus iv #copia #headcanon #the band ghost fanfiction

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sabbracadabras · 19 days

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Posting about my metal subgenre guys under the read more because I feel bad for posting art of them with basically no context (yay)

So, I’d like to think that most music genres have some sort of soul, just based on humans and their connection and love for music. My characters are basically a physical manifestation of that; corporeal representations of the music genre they represent. They’ll exist as long as people out there actually give a shit about the music, and considering how passionate metalheads are about their music, they won’t go away any time soon.

Since they aren't human, they don't need to do stuff like eat or sleep, but they can choose to do so.

The horns and tails that the extreme metal subgenres have are just for show and are only there to make them more distinctive in design. They aren’t demons or anything. I just like goat horns.

“How do they integrate into human society?” It’s not like they’re out of their element or anything. They behave like the fans of their music do. The only thing that would really impact that is their eclectic fashion sense/extra body parts, but I think it’d be funny if humans didn’t care about that sorta thing after a while, so it’s just not a huge issue in-universe.

"So what subgenres have you personified? What are their names?" Everyone tends to classify metal subgenres differently and there's so many depending on who you ask, so I'm only using 12 of them. Sorry if your favorite subgenre isn't on here! I just want my life to be easy.

Heavy Metal (basically whatever you think of when you think about English heavy metal bands from the 70s-early 80s.): Graham

Hair Metal: Roxanne

Doom Metal: Björn

Thrash Metal: Rocky

Death Metal: Cris

Black Metal: Orcus (Sven)

Power Metal: Hannes

Folk Metal: Vesa

Prog Metal: Jean

Symphonic Metal: Annette

Industrial Metal: Johann

Nu metal: Wes

"What are their ages?" I guess they're the same age as the subgenre they represent. Mentally and physically, though, they're like...20 somethings. Their ages don't really matter, but if you're worried about that kind of stuff they're all adults, so it's whatever.

I don't have any huge thing planned for them at the moment. They're just silly guys that I like to draw. I do plan on going back and tagging all the art featuring them as "posers" since that's what I call their universe. I'll probably go back and tag each character too if I'm not lazy.

Thanks for reading!

#ocs #original #posers

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omegalomania · 1 year

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hold me, hold me like a grudge the world is always spinning and i can't keep up woah, faster and faster can't do it on my own part time soulmate, full time problem yeah, so hold me like a grudge

hi if you need me i'll be going FUCKING INSANE over the lyrics we got for the snippet to hold me like a grudge.

duality is already a central theme for the album and we got a lot of that from the first two singles alone. love from the other side and heartbreak feels so good are so diametrically opposed in terms of tone and presentation and eVERYTHING (the former being this kind of grimly determined symphonic rock piece about grappling with one's place given the state of the world, the latter being a bouncy pop rock piece about what it means to pour your emotions into your art when your art is dependent on you feeling like shit) so this one sits in the middle. sharp riffs and a forward chugging drive and overlaid with that are these words.

"hold me like a grudge" is such a fucking good double entendre i love it so much. because it's like, hold me physically sure. but you need to hold me like a grudge. you need to hold me like something you hate. love me with all the power you'd direct toward someone you despise. hold me. i need you. i can't do this alone. i need someone with me. i need you to love me and i need you to love me with all the spite and vitriol of someone who hates me down to my fucking soul. i can't do this without you and you're a part of me but i'm a full time fucking problem so what option is there for you but to hold me like i'm something you fucking resent

and i'm pulling myself the fuck apart over this because they were formally christened as a band by tttyg, an album all about the very sentiment of holding unreserved grudges and that kind of spite and vexation for someone who hurt you. and this is something that takes the language of hate and turns it into a sentiment that professes love but it's still so desolate it's so desperate and it's like you're my anchor you're my other half you're someone i can't live without you're the one thing that grounds me in this whole fucked up world that's moving too fast for me but if you love me i need you to couch the sentiment of love in the language of hate anyway if you need me i'll be lying on the fucking floor for the next several hours fuck

#*making poasts #this is like pretty unfiltered my brain is all it up. i'm full fall out boy mode.

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bijouxcarys · 4 months

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WAIT NO SORRY I MEANT NUMBER 5 FUCK

Okie dokie, i didn’t proof read this, but I sincerely hope it’s okay! At some point it gained some kind of mythological undertones, but I kinda like it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aphrodite

Pairing: Robert Plant x Unnamed OC

Warnings: SMUT SMUT SMUTTY SMUT

Smut Prompt #5: “I can’t pull out when you wrap your legs around me like that.”

Tags: @callmethehunter @celestial-dragoness @whothefuckisanja @m-faithfull @strsmn @ourshadowstallerthanoursoul @chromations @angrychicksposts

Robert was so excited when he saw that familiar face in the wings.

She said she wasn’t going to be here. That she had too much going on at work to join him on tour. But yet, here she was, an expression of encouragement towards her long-time lover as he pranced and jived across that stage.

Toothy grin plastered on his face, Robert’s energy skyrocketed, and it showed during Heartbreaker. Even from her place at the side, she caught glimpses of a singular prominent vein up the side of his strong neck as he wailed for his people.

With a permanent smirk, the Golden God strode along the expanse of the stage, dragging his snake-skin-clad feet behind him like a noble steed. Though, Robert transcended the prototypical energy of a knight and his steed.

His chest puffed and shoulders back, the command over the ministrations of his onlookers was a mere act compared to the way his fair lady conquered his being.

For a moment, he was in the midst of symphonic coitus, making balmy and visceral love to his Queen through the way his body rocked and rolled in time with Jimmy’s cadenced playing.

Through the thousands of flushed and elated faces looking up at him, he only saw her.

Even when his eyes were shut, or she was an ocean away, it was always her.

His mind began to wander. He thought of all the ways he could convey the joy of seeing her, of having her with him…by having her. He envisioned her soft, feminine form straddling his lean hips, joined together from below. She’d roll her body over his, creating a perfect rhythm synonymous with worship.

But as much as she loved to worship him, he lived to worship her.

That’s why, when all was said and done at the venue, Robert and his lover bypassed the post-show extremities and landed exactly where they both desperately needed to be. Locked away in Robert’s hotel room.

Very little was said between them as they devoured one another, mind, body, and soul.

Their lips were aching and swollen from heated kisses. Hair was tangled and clothes were carelessly disposed of once Robert had her hoisted up against the wall.

Her hands clung to his golden locks as he meshed their lips together once more, and steadily ground into her, teasing her core with what was waiting to bury itself deep inside.

Robert took advantage of the way she leaned her head back against the cool wallpaper, attacking her supple throat as he coiled his hips back and forth. Her moans were so ethereal, her gasps were the life source he needed, and her hot, flushed core was home.

She let out a small yelp as he urgently pulled her from the wall and over to the bed, making his fantasies a reality by holding her above him. She loved this position. When she was able to feast her eyes on the man she was lucky enough to call hers. To watch as his chest tightened and his jaw fastened shut, his brows creased and his plump lips dropped open to give way to hefty breaths.

Observing him intently, she raised and lowered herself onto his rock-hard cock, smirking as he widened his eyes in response.

“W…Don’t we need—“

She cut him off by pressing her hand to his mouth. With a shake of her head, she reassured him that she needed him raw and entire within. They could worry about the potential consequences later.

“Just pull out, baby…” she hummed against his lips, teasing him with a stolen kiss. “You know how much I like it when I’m covered in you…”

“Fuck,” he huffed, digging his fingers into her hair and smashing his lips into hers. He was slowly losing control. Her hands splayed across the expanse of Robert’s broad chest, using all her strength to rotate her hips just the way he liked it. His hips were instinctively lifting to meet hers, quickly picking up a pace that had them both moaning and panting in congruence with one another.

She unleashed a barrage of praises, words of pride, over his earlier performance on stage, relentlessly reminding him that he was the ruler of her world, her body, her mind, her soul… her perfect man.

Earth could have the Golden God, but she got to have him.

Robert was unable to form a coherent response, her soaked walls coating his cock and creating lewd noises below each time they met with eager, passionate thrusts. He gripped onto her with mammoth hands, moving her body in time with his the needier he became. Until it wasn’t enough. He needed to take his control back.

He sat up, wrapping his muscular arms around her waist as he flipped them over completely. He stood at the edge of the bed, pulling her towards him by her legs until she was pressed flush against him. Blue eyes piercing into hers, his cock once again impaled her, and the remnants of Zeppelin’s Golden God came back into view.

Robert fell over her, humming at the restricted feeling he felt as she locked her legs around his waist, her ankles crossed and the heels of her feet pressed into his lower back. One hand on the side of her neck and the other holding onto her smaller hand, fingers intertwined, he proceeded with a spine-chilling, earth-shattering pace, angling his hips in such a way that allowed his cock to hit all the right places in the depths of her aching cunt.

“Mmm—missed you, darlin’…” he grunted, lips inches from hers. He attempted another kiss, but the speed and intensity of his love made it near impossible to do so. So he settled for the continuous dance their lips played upon one another’s. He could tell by the way her neck and chest flushed up and the heaving of her chest became unsteady that she was on the edge.

“Robert…” she gasped, arching her body up into his in an attempt to feel every single part of him. Her free hand clawed at his shoulder. She was so close now. She’d been thinking of this moment all day. He coaxed her into her blazing release, proclaiming his unconditional love for her, the woman he deemed the Aphrodite to his Eros.

The way she tightened around him sent him into overdrive, so much so that pulling out seemed like a far cry from reality. His love felt too good, but he knew better.

Robert gave her a warning look as she only seemed to strengthen the hold she had on him with her legs. With a breathless chuckle and a crooked smile, he pushed some hair out of her face to look down at her.

“I can’t pull out when you wrap your legs around me like that.”

Her post-release daze made it hard to decipher what he had panted in her face, but not impossible. And in some impulsive, orgasmic throe of eternal ecstasy, she ripped her hand away from his and held his face close to her, breathing in a silky voice.

“Then don’t… come on, baby, I want it…” she encouraged him, her hips jolting through her sensitivity. “I want you inside me forever. All of you.”

“Naughty little minx…”

“Yeah?” She hummed. “Show me how naughty I am… make me feel it for the rest of the night…” She nipped at his lower lip. That did it. With a primal growl and a shudder, Robert gave her what she wanted, happily filling her with his thick load, and giving in to the power she had over his white-hot libido.

In that moment, they knew she’d be making unexpected appearances for as long as they presided at the feet of Aphrodite.

#Robert plant #Robert plant x reader #Robert plant fanfic #robert plant fanfiction #robert plant smut #led zeppelin #led zeppelin fanfic #led zeppelin fanfiction #rock music #70s #classic rock #writing #writer #fanfic #fanfic writing #smut prompts #writing prompt

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x--daughters-of-darkness--x · 4 months

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"It’s more than sales – it inspired an entire generation of young girls to know they had a place in heavy music." Inside Fallen: the album that turned Evanescence into instant 21st century metal superstars

No rock band had an explosive a rise in the 2000s as Evanescence. This is the story of their classic debut album

Evanescence’s Amy Lee was at one of the many awards ceremonies she attended back in the first half of the 2000s when she was approached by a fan. This wasn’t unusual in itself, except this fan happened to be rapper and mogul P. Diddy.

“He said, ‘I love your album, I listen to it when I work out’,” Amy tells Hammer today. “And I was like ‘Really? That’s awesome!’ That was surprising to me. You know who I am? That’s weird.” Weird is right. Just a couple of years earlier, Amy had been a shy, aspiring singer and songwriter who had played no more than a handful of times with the band she’d co-founded as 13-year-old almost a decade earlier. And now here she was, getting star-spotted by hip hop A-listers at swanky awards ceremonies.

“What do they call that thing? Imposter syndrome!” she recalls today. “I definitely felt like I’d snuck in the back door and somehow got to go to the Grammys. Like, ‘I’m not supposed to be here and people do not know who we are and this is a prank.’ I think part of that is just it all happening so fast and being so young.”

The reason for the attention was down to the blockbusting success of Evanescence’s debut album, Fallen. Originally released in March 2003, and about to be reissued as a deluxe 20th anniversary edition, Fallen appeared at the tail-end of the nu metal boom. It offered a gothier, more dramatic take on that sound, which bridged nu metal and both the rising symphonic metal and emo scenes. It would go on to sell more than 10 million copies in the US alone, turning Amy Lee into an icon and role model for a generation of young, female fans.

Amy describes the young, pre-Evanescence version of herself as “a little bit shy”. Earlier this year, she told Hammer’s sister magazine, Classic Rock, that the death of her younger sister, Bonnie, when Amy was six, was a catalyst for “this soul, spirit- searching, expression mode”, which would eventually manifest itself in music. She wrote her first song aged 12, and others quickly followed. “I wrote plenty of songs that were crap,” she says with a laugh. “You just haven’t heard them.”

Things became more serious when she met future Evanescence guitarist Ben Moody in 1994 at a Christian Youth Camp in Little Rock, Arkansas, where her family had moved to a few years earlier. She was 13 and Ben a year older, though the two decided they could make music together. Amy describes their initial endeavours as “more like an electronic duo, like Massive Attack” than an actual band, though some of their early songs would end up on Fallen, including Imaginary, Whisper and My Immortal.

The nascent Evanescence didn’t play a gig for nearly six years, partly because of their youth, and partly because they wanted to concentrate on honing the songs they were writing. “The live part for me at that time just wasn’t my focus,” she shrugs. “I wanted to make stuff.”

Their first release was a self-titled debut EP that came out in 1998 via local label Bigwig, followed by another EP, Sound Asleep, the following year (both featured songs that appeared on Fallen). They’d played a few a low-key acoustic shows in their early days, but their first proper, plugged-in show was at a bar named Vinos in Little Rock on January 2, 1999, less than a month after Amy turned 17.

“It was difficult to be on stage at first,” she says. “I had to really work at being a good performer. I remember the first time we played a gig and four people knew the chorus to one of our dumb little songs,” she adds, self-effacingly trailing off.

It was an early version of My Immortal that caught the attention of Diana Meltzer, head of A&R at Wind-up Records, in 2001. Amy had just enrolled in college to study music theory composition when she got the message that Wind-up were interested in Evanescence - essentially herself and Ben.

“I still wanted to make music, but I was going to study so that maybe one day I could work on film scores as a backup plan,” she says. “We got signed three months in. I had one semester of school. I literally went from graduating high school to moving to LA and making our album in a year and a half.”

Producer Dave Fortman can remember the first time he heard Amy Lee sing Bring Me To Life in the studio. The guitarist in 1990s rockers Ugly Kid Joe pivoted to production after the 1997 break-up of that band, working with the likes of Superjoint Ritual and Crowbar before signing on to produce the debut album by an unknown band from Arkansas called Evanescence. After listening to their demo, he jumped at the chance to work with them. And then came the moment when Amy began singing in the studio.

“Amy was in the booth and this voice just came out,” Dave tells Hammer. “My engineer, who has worked with some of the biggest names in music bar none, turned to me with his jaw on the floor and said, 'Goddamn! This girl can sing.’ You just forgot where you were, you weren’t working anymore, you were just in awe of her. They were the most talented people in their age I’d ever been in contact with.”

The Evanescence that recorded Fallen was Amy and Ben, plus keyboard player/string arranger/co-songwriter David Hodges (who joined the band in 1999) and an array of session musicians, including future Guns N’ Roses/Foo Fighters drummer Josh Freese. Dave Fortman estimates the album cost around $250,000 to make – a sizeable sum now, but relatively modest at a time when seven-figure budgets weren’t uncommon (Korn’s 2002 album Untouchables reportedly cost $4 million). Some of that budget went on the real-life orchestra that Amy insisted on using for many of the songs – a bold move for a new band, when an electronic recreation would have been cheaper.

“None of us were ever going to back down on that,” says Dave Fortman. “It had to be that way or it wasn’t going to work. We recorded the orchestra in Seattle where they have no union, so it was cheaper. If we’d have known it was going to smash in the way it did, hell yeah, we would have just recorded them in LA!”

Evanescence didn’t get everything their way. Bring Me To Life, which addressed Amy’s feelings of numbness while in an abusive relationship, was augmented by the inclusion of rapper Paul McCoy in an attempt to appeal to the nu metal market - a decision that went against the band’s wishes. “I was so scared in the beginning that we were going forward with something that wasn’t a perfectly honest picture of who we were,” Amy told Metal Hammer earlier this year. “But it didn’t last long. After a few songs, the mainstream was able to hear more than the one song and it was like, ‘OK, they at least sort of get what we are.’”

Advance expectations for Fallen were modest when it was released on March 4, 2003. “If it had gone gold [500,000 copies], we’d have A all been delighted with that,” says Dave Fortman. As it turned out, the album smashed it, selling more than 140,000 copies in its first week of release alone and reaching No.7 in the US Billboard charts. Bring Me To Life was a huge factor in that success. Like My Immortal, the song made its first appearance on the big- budget, Ben Affleck-starring Daredevil movie, which hit cinemas a few months before Fallen came out.

When it was released as a single in its own right, accompanied by an expensive-looking urban-gothic video that saw a nightdress- clad Amy somnambulantly climbing the side of a tower block, like a cross between a character from an Anne Rice novel and a comic book superhero, Wind-up reps had to beg radio stations to play it (“A chick with piano on a rock station?” was a common response). Those that did air it soon found their phone lines jammed with people who wanted to know what it was that they’d just heard. It entered the US Top 10 and did even better in the UK, where it reached No.1.

Bring Me To Life and subsequent singles Going Under and My Immortal put wind in Fallen’s sails. Those 140,000 sales shot upwards at a vertiginous rate: within a month, it had sold more than a million copies in the US alone. By the middle of 2004, it had reached seven million (in 2022, Fallen was awarded a diamond certificate for US sales of more than 10 million). The speed of the ascent left Amy Lee dazed. “There was just so much going on,” she says, exhaling. “I don’t know if I got to focus on it that hard at the time.”

The label wanted to get Evanescence out on the road to capitalise on that initial success. A touring band was assembled around Amy and Ben – guitarist John LeCompt, drummer Rocky Gray and bassist Will Boyd were recruited to back them. Their rise as a live band was equally dizzying. The day Fallen was released, Evanescence headlined the 200-capacity Engine Room in Houston, Texas. Three months later, they made their first UK appearance playing the Main Stage at the inaugural Download festival, sandwiched between Stone Sour and Mudvayne. Two weeks after that, they returned to the UK to headline a sold-out show at London’s prestigious Astoria.

Inevitably, given the scale and velocity of Evanescence’s success, it didn’t take long for the backlash to kick in. Amy was the focus of much of the criticism, with the barbs ranging from the petty (one magazine questioned her goth credentials) to the outright misogynistic (she was painted as a diva with absolutely nothing to back it up other than the fact she was a woman). Evanescence themselves were perceived by some of their detractors as nothing more than a cynical marketing experiment; the phrase “Linkin Park with a girl singer” appeared a depressing number of times back then, which diminished the decade or so Amy and Ben had invested in their band and music.

“I felt a lot like people wanted to see me fail, especially in the beginning,” Amy says. “I think it’s partially that they want to see if you’re the real thing, and when you shoot up so fast and you have a lot of success really quickly, I think there’s a little bit of a human nature thing that wants to poke a hole in that. I felt on the defence, I felt misunderstood – I’ve got a badass, bitchy look on my face on the album cover, so obviously I must be some kind of bitch.”

Amy was just 21 when Fallen was released, and the criticism took a toll on her. “It was hard as a young person to feel misunderstood,” she reflects today. Things became even more complicated when Ben left acrimoniously in October 2003, just six months after the release of Fallen, with creative differences cited at the time as the reason for the split (in 2010, he admitted to trying to force the singer out of the band they had founded together).

“I felt frustrated,” says Amy. “I wanted to hide a bit in that initial aftermath. People always wanted to attach me to drama, like Ben leaving the band. All of that was trying to be made to make me look bad, like it’s my fault or, ‘Well now it’s going to suck because she didn’t actually do any of the work, obviously all the men behind her did all the writing and the creation.’ It just made me angry a lot.”

The criticism and fractured personal relationships may have been difficult to deal with, but the impact Evanescence had was undeniable. Fallen landed at a transitional time for metal. By 2003, nu metal was on a downward trajectory creatively and commercially, with scene heavyweights Korn and Limp Bizkit both releasing dud albums in the shape of Take A Look In The Mirror and Results May Vary respectively. The New Wave Of American Heavy Metal was bubbling up, but it didn’t possess the same kind of mainstream crossover potential.

Fallen was different. Nu metal may have been in its DNA, but so was goth and electronic music. It was heavy enough for metal fans but it was also dramatic and heartfelt enough to draw in the emo crowd and pop fans alike. The soaring piano ballad My Immortal, with its narrative of a grieving relative haunted by the spirit of the family member they’re mourning, and Going Under, another song detailing the feelings of hopelessness that come from suffering in an abusive relationship, were unquestionably dark, but Evanescence wrapped them up in ear-worm hooks and gothic allure, while Amy’s presence imbued them with a distinctly feminine spirit that was a world away from nu metal’s over-testosteroned aggro.

The broad-church appeal of Fallen was reflected in the range of musicians who garlanded it with praise. Over the years, it’s been cited as an inspiration by everyone from Lzzy Hale and The Pretty Reckless’s Taylor Momsen to pop star Kelly Clarkson. Björk praised Evanescence and so, more surprisingly, did Lemmy, a man not known for his love of goth-tinged ballads.

“They’re fucking excellent,” said the late Motörhead frontman when asked for his view of the band. Even more significant – and noticeable – was the devotion Evanescence, and Amy in particular, almost instantly inspired among fans, especially female ones. The look she sported in music videos, magazine photo shoots and TV interviews – goth-style corsets, black and red eye make-up - was taken up by countless rock club kids up and down the country.

But arguably the most lasting impact Fallen has had is musical. It marked a changing of the guard: not just the end of nu metal, but the beginning of the rise of symphonic metal. Bands such as Nightwish and Within Temptation released albums before Fallen, making sizable waves in mainland Europe, but Evanescence put a distinctly American spin on it, turbocharging symphonic metal’s rise on the back of Fallen’s success. Even now, Amy’s too modest to acknowledge the influence that Fallen had.

“People are always asking me that question: ‘What is it about that album that resonated with people so much?’” she says. “I don’t know. Some of it’s just out of your control. At that age and that time in my life, I don’t think I would have given myself that credit.”

Dave Fortman is far more forthright on the subject. “Did I notice it?!” he says. “How could you not?! That’s what happens when you become, not just a big band, but an icon. She truly changed things. All those symphonic bands that came in their wake? They’re all Amy’s children.”

Fallen helped turn Evanescence into one of the biggest bands of the 21st century. They beat superstar rapper 50 Cent to the award for Best New Artist at the 2004 Grammy Awards (Bring Me To Life also took the trophy for Best Hard Rock Performance). To date, the record has sold more than 17 million copies worldwide – only Adele, Eminem, Norah Jones, Lady Gaga and Linkin Park released albums that have sold more during that time.

Dave calls Fallen “a life- changing album”. He explains: “It’s more than sales – it inspired an entire generation of young girls to know they had a place in heavy music. To show they didn’t have to ever compromise.” It’s a sentiment Amy shares as she looks back at the shy 21-year-old of 2003.

“It was crazy, it was awesome,” she says. “But there was a lot for me that was going on personally, turmoil and relationships within our band. It was just this wild time where so many things that felt huge were happening at the same time. Did it change the musical landscape? I don’t know. But it inspired somebody for something good, it made them walk back from the edge, feel their self-worth in some way. I think it’s truly a gift and a blessing in my life.”

Originally printed in Metal Hammer #381

#amy lee #evanescence #fallen #2023 interviews

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