The latest offering from the nu metal breed, Evanescence’s Fallen, is a strange hybrid.

Granted, it borrows from a lot of the mechanisms that have made this kind of music tired: the pounding guitars, the rock chick bawling, themes of pain, alienation and the forces of darkness, and the obvious borrowing from old hand nu metal group, Linkin Park. The difference here lies in the fusion of the pounding music with a Gothic, ballady vibe, and the ethereal, soaring voice of Amy Lee.

Composed of Amy Lee on vocals, Ben Moody on guitar, second guitarist John Le Crompt and drummer Rocky Gray, Evanescence have stirred a host of additional musicians into the mix on this album, helping to produce smash single ‘Bring Me To Life’, (a catchy song which managed to get onto the soundtrack of the movie Daredevil), but also making a lot of the rest of the album seem a little overdone.

Songs such as ‘Bring Me To Life’, conceived from driving beat and strong melody, are enough to push the sales of the album. But when drumsticks are set down, guitars unplugged, and Lee is allowed to sing into the quiet centre stage, lovely ballads like ‘My Immortal’ (accompanied by piano) and ‘Hello’ (set off by the cello) shine out from an album that otherwise tends to bleed from song to song.