Evanescence - Synthesis

Rerecording your own catalog with an orchestra is usually a late-career shrug. Synthesis is not that. Released in 2017 on BMG, it takes Evanescence songs back to the piano-and-strings shapes Amy Lee heard in her head before anyone put distorted guitars on them, and adds electronic programming instead of putting them back. Lee produced with Will Hunt, David Campbell conducted and arranged the orchestra, and Emily Lazar mastered.

"Bring Me To Life" and "Lithium" get the most attention here because hearing them stripped of the nu-metal chassis is genuinely disorienting. But the real revelations are quieter: "Lacrymosa" finally sounds like the Mozart requiem it was always borrowing from, "Secret Door" and "Your Star" open up, and the two new songs, "Hi-Lo" with Lindsey Stirling's violin and the closing "Imperfection," make the case that this was a creative project and not a repackaging exercise. Damian Taylor mixed.

Twenty-plus years in, it is the record that reframed the whole catalog.

Double LP on black vinyl across four sides, pressed by SunPress Vinyl. The full orchestral running order with the room the arrangements need.