Evanescence frontwoman Amy Lee has heard her band described as many things over the years, and she’s learned to live with most of them. But there’s one tag she’s got particularly strong feelings about – and not in a good way.
Speaking exclusively in the brand new issue of Metal Hammer, the singer, whose band released their highly anticipated sixth studio album, Sanctuary, on June 5, looks back on the band’s 2003 debut single, Bring Me To Life, which saw the band categorised as both goth and nu metal.
“Honestly, I never liked that word,” Amy tells Hammer of the idea her band were goth. “I was like an alt rock, ripped-up jeans kind of girl. The word goth [to describe Evanescence’s music] is stupid. I hate that word.”
She adds that she’s not hugely enamoured with the ‘nu metal’ tag, but is less annoyed by it.
“I don’t think that word is particularly modern, but I don’t really care,” she says of the nu metal description. “Labels are labels, whatever you want to call it, is fine. We know who we are, and where we’ve come to is full of so much amazing growth, but it’s also full of, like, respecting where we came from.”
Still, Amy admits that it hasn’t escaped her that music from the early 2000s have had a resurgence in the last few years. and she’s glad Evanescence are part of the conversation.
“I think it’s natural, at this sort of 20-year mark, for throwback vibes and nostalgia to hit,” she muses. “There is so much interesting innovation in rock and metal today, it has come so far from where it was back then… the rules are out the window.”
In the interview, she also touched on the fact that Evanescence have never headlined the Main Stage at Download, despite pulling a huge crowd when they headlined the Second Stage in 2023.
“If I had been asked to headline it, I would’ve headlined it,” she says. “Maybe next year!”
Metal Hammer’s review of Sanctuary calls it “their most vital record in years – confident, contemporary and frequently colossal, it succeeds not by retreating into nostalgia but by dragging the band’s core identity into the present with surprising conviction.”
Read the full interview with Amy in the brand new issue of Metal Hammer, which also comes with two exclusive Evanescence gifts: a logo keyring, and a foil sticker in the Sanctuary album colours. Order it online and have it delivered straight to your door.
