The Critiquing Critica's New Look

The Critiquing Critica has a new look!

After getting a newer (and much better) computer, I could see the layout better due to the larger screen, which means I saw more of the old rainy-mountain template. It was nice and subtle... But it just felt so boring all of a sudden! Soon, my best friend Nickster at the Unofficial Cedar Point Blog mentioned that even though all of my posts were so happy, the background was too gloomy. I couldn't take it anymore after that. So, I decided to get a new template and go for a more "fun" approach. I hope everyone likes it as much as I do!

"Evanescence" | Evanescence

Five years have passed since Evanescence released their last album, The Open Door. Since they've been my favorite band since 2005 I have been especially excited for this album... not to mention quite impatient in the midst of my anticipation. Finally, they've come back with a different line-up as well as a general feel that sepreates from their previous albums in many ways. Everyone in the band contributed to the songwriting this time around, which was a big reason why they decided to name the album Evanescence. 

The album opens with the first single, "What You Want" and it may surprise people because it's so upbeat for Evanescence. It has a catchy hook and is undeniably infectious, making me unable to sit still. Amy's voice is a powerhouse and the band is rocking harder than ever, with Amy's piano of course.

"Made of Stone" follows, and it opens with heavy guitars with an eerie piano part overlapping it in the second half of the intro. Like the previous track, it's quite catchy. Amy's voice is angry and gorgeous all at the same time in this rock tune, repeatedly enforcing "It's never enough!". But, the bridge includes a very pretty piano bit that quickly gathers the drums and guitars and crescendos back into the band's new found heaviness.

The third track is called "The Change," and though the verses seem rather chill, the chorus blows up (I mean that in a good way). Amy's vocalizing might remind one of Alice in Chains and it sounds memorable and awesome! The lyrics are very good, much like in the next song, "My Heart is Broken." Although it certainly fits this new era, it reminds me of older Evanescence music, with Amy's soaring voice, the moving melodies, and combination of hard rock and classical. The piano is very potent throughout this piece as well, very soft at the beginning but it has a higher tempo for the rest of the song. All Evanescence fans should enjoy this one.

"The Other Side" is about death... but done differently. The drums begin the song, and even as the guitars and Amy's voice come in, it still sounds pretty upbeat. What is probably most noticeable is the fluiditys in the vocal line, and how cool it sounds when Amy sings "take me higher." But, the chorus and bridge are much bigger and darker than the verses, creating a very interesting track that captures a few different emotions. Next, we have "Erase This." A very catchy piano riff goes on throughout the song.

Evanescence has made the best ballads ever created in the history of the world and "Lost in Paradise" is no exception. Simplistic piano chords open the track, and Amy's voice sounds ethereal and vulnerable as she sings the best lyrics of the album. The piano picks up, strings come in, and between the chord progression and the emotion in Amy's voice, I get chills each time I hear her sing "...but I"m broken." When the band comes in, it emphasizes all the emotion in the lyrics and strengthens them. This will be the Evanescence fan anthem forever since it's about how Amy was "lost in paradise" when she took a break from the band. Amy herself has called it an "apology to the fans" in a track-by-track explanation with NME. It's beautiful and definitely my favorite from this album.

The eighth song is called "Sick," and the chorus immediately drew me in and had me pumping my fist. Amy's voice almost sounds scary as she belts out "Sick we are! Sick we are!" and for whatever reason it makes me think of the film V for Vendetta and overthrowing totalitarian governments. "End of the Dream" follows with a much more relaxing (yet still heavy) feel. The bridge sounds very metal-ish with the pounding, rythemic drums.

"Oceans" comes next, and it is one of my favorites. It opens with an electronic vibe, but it doesn't last long; the guitars kick in at the chorus, and are full-force in the urgent bridge. The vocalizing in the background of the chorus sounds purely amazing, and the line "cross the oceans in my mind" is just so classic to me. It's a great composition that will appeal to fans of just about any of Evanescence's eras.

The heaviest of the album is "Never Go Back," another one of the album's best tracks, written about the tsunami disaster in Japan. This is especially evident in my favorite line from the song: "The only world I've ever known sleeps beneath the waves." Metal is basically the only word to describe the heavy guitars, and Amy's voice still manages to soar above them. One of the best elements of this track is the epic bridge, where piano and guitars collide theatrically. I love it!

"Swimming Home" ends the standard edition of the album. It's by far the most different song from Evanescence; it's electronic and the harp is included for the first time. Again, it's about death, but in an usual way. It's about actually dying and saying goodbye. As previously mentioned, Evanescence is superior in the ballad department, but "Swimming Home" is probably the prettiest. Amy's gorgeous voice, the harp, and electronic composition is an otherworldly blend that will touch your heart.

The deluxe edition comes with four bonus tracks that are just as promising as this wonderful album. This includes "A New Way to Bleed," an awesome track that includes harp in the bridge; "Say You Will," a more upbeat track; "Disappear," a powerful song that won't disappoint those who enjoyed this album; and "Secret Door," a very unique and beautiful classical song that features the harp. "Secret Door" is probably the most relaxing song that's come from this band.

Evanescence has renovated their sound with every album, so the fact that this self-titled piece of work differs from the rest shouldn't be surprising to fans. Even so, I don't think that many will be disappointed in this new release. It's still very Evanescence-y and includes many fantastic songs. In my opinion, one of the biggest things that drives this band's music is the emotion put into each song that no one else can really capture, and there's plenty of that. Not to mention the incredible music.

Lyrically, this album is very strong. Amy seems more confident than ever, and in her writing it is evident that she knows there's a way out of darkness. It makes the album more positive than the other albums, yet it still has the dark vibe that comes with Evanescence's amazing music. She's a stronger person than ever before, and it shows.

Evanescence is back, and they are still the perfect band I've always believed them to be.

5/5 Stars

The Help | Kathryn Stockett

The Help follows the intertwining stories of three women who narrate the novel, which is set up in Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960s. Racism is commonplace, and the black maids that work for white families are often underappreciated and discriminated against. Miss Skeeter, an aspiring writer, misses her family's previous African American maid who raised her, Constantine, but she left years ago and Miss Skeeter has no idea where she is. She longs to talk with Constantine, who had been a maternal figure to Miss Skeeter. After all, Constantine would not judge her like her mother constantly does.

While wondering where Constantine has gone and witnessing racist discrimination from everyone in town (especially Miss Hilly), Miss Skeeter has a controversial idea: To write a book of the true stories of various black maids in Jackson. Despite the awful risks, Aibileen, a maid who raises white children, and Minny, a maid who tends to smart mouth her bosses and often gets fired, decide to help Skeeter. All the while, these women have their own problems to face, altogether creating a wonderful story with so much depth in this story of radiant hope.
At my first glance of the movie trailers of The Help, I thought it looked like a chick flick version of To Kill a Mockingbird. Therefore, I immediately held intrerest in reading this book though weary of giving it a try. But even though it may be in the same league as To Kill a Mockingbird, it's actually quite different. I loved it.

The Help is an extraordinary novel with great characters that embody strength. The stories of Minny, Aibileen, and Miss Skeeter were so interesting and captivating I never wanted to put it down. Because of the three narrations, this book had an incredible amount of depth - much more depth than usual with books that have multiple narrations. I felt for so many of the characters, even in addition to the three narrators. Miss Celia, who is Minny's strange boss, has secrets that will break your heart. I enjoyed reading about how strange she is to Minny.

Between all of these characters, this story has everything: racism, depression, love, abusive relationships, bad parenting, good parenting, great characters, and hope. And all of this drama is captured with flawless writing from Kathryn Stockett, so it flows perfectly.

In the midst of all this, you'd be surprised by how much humor is woven into this novel. I've never read a book that made me smile so much. Ever. Even when something wasn't funny, I still managed to smile at this touching story. A lot of times, it was because of Aibileen and her relationship with Mae Mobley. There's no way that kid would be properly loved if Aibileen wasn't around to tell her that she was smart and pretty every day, because Elizabeth sure didn't care much. I was amazed at the bad parenting demonstrated here.

What really shocked me was the direct racism. I've read To Kill a Mockingbird a couple of times, but now I realize that since the situation in that book took place in court where you can't just come right out and say "I blame Tom Robinson because he's black" the racism was usually just hinted at. The Help is much more direct than that. People come right out and talk about awful things, like seperate bathrooms so none of the feared "diseases" can be caught. I couldn't believe it. And the antagonist, Hilly, seemed to be the epitome of it all, while other ladies just sat and agreed with her just for the sake of agreeing.

There's a reason for all of the hype behind The Help, and that reason is simply that it is a marvelous story. It will make you laugh and it will make you cry... I know I did quite a bit of both.

Please, for your sake, go read this book.

5/5 Stars


Stockett, Kathryn. The Help
New York: Penguin Group Inc.
2009

Favorite Voices

I've been listening to tons of new music lately and that's inspired me to share with you all who my favorite vocalists are!

Amy Lee
*Lead singer of Evanescence
*Also recorded solo songs

With an amazing range of four octaves, Amy Lee has a very emotional, dark voice that can go so surprisingly high and low. People typically cheer when a singer hits crazy high notes, and that happens during Evanescence's live performances, but I've even seen videos of live performances where people cheer for how deep her voice can get. Her gorgeous voice just soars with the feeling she puts into every song.







Simone Simmons
*Lead singer of Epica

She's classically trained? Yeah, and it's obvious. What a wonderful, crystal-clear voice! Her flawless singing is what tends to give Epica a cross-over appeal for those that may think that Epica's music would be a bit too heavy for them, with potent guitars and Mark's grunting.










Sharon den Adel
*Lead Singer of Within Temptation
*Has done multiple duets

A wonderful soprano at her best. In early recordings, her voice had this cold factor that immediately made her seem other-worldly. Typically, she now sings with a compassionate, softer feel but far from weak. In songs like "The Promise" she sounds like an operatic powerhouse, but in others like "Sinead" we see a more fun side of her amazing voice.








Ben Burnley
*Lead singer of Breaking Benjamin

Ben's voice is so full, smooth, and dark. Yet he can still scream (darker still) in a way that sounds perfect and awesome. You really don't hear voices like this in the hard rock scene too often.







Emmy Rossum
*Solo artist
*Portrayed the role of Christine Daae in the 2004 film The Phantom of the Opera

A young operatic singer who wowed me with her talent in The Phantom of the Opera, which she starred as the leading lady, Christine Daae. Her voice has a sharpness and sincerity that gives me chills.

David Gilmour
*Lead singer of Pink Floyd

This guy has a voice that'll put you to sleep. Seriously, go buy any Pink Floyd album and tell me that his voice isn't incredibly relaxing, especially in the songs "Another Brick in the Wall: Part 1" and "Breathe". He's always sounded just as great live as he does on the studio-recorded albums, very chill, but still rock n' roll.










Lady Gaga
*Solo artist

Say what you will, but I really enjoy listening to Gaga's voice. I'm not absolutely crazy about how she sounded in her first album, The Fame, because she's shown big improvements in her latest album, Born This Way. Her voice gives off a classy, bluesey/rock n' roll feel in songs like "Speechless" and "You and I", and I think the world has been missing this for a while. Personally, I think she's basically the best at singing live in the pop music world.








Jackie Evancho
*Solo artist
*Contestant on America's Got Talent

Is there anybody out there who hasn't been moved by Jackie? The very first time I heard her on America's Got Talent my jaw just hung open in my moment of being completely awestruck that someone her age can sound so mature and beautiful.










Dave Gahan
*Lead singer of Depeche Mode

I'm not sure what main reason I have for finding his voice so appealing. There's just something about it that flows like velvet in its soft richness...

Chris Martin
*Lead singer of Coldplay

Of all the males on my list of favorite singers, Chris stands out as the highest in pitch. His voice can definitely be described as peaceful and soothing, and easily unique.

Cover Reveal

Even though I know I can't judge books by their covers, I must admit that I love book covers anyway and still appriciate them. P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast's House of Night book series has a lot of amazing covers. I love them all. Recently, the cover of the ninth book in the series, Destined, has finally been uncovered! And the Critica is quite happy with it!

The Forest of Hands and Teeth | by: Carrie Ryan

When I first saw this book the title immediately intrigued me. Later on, I heard that The Forest of Hands and Teeth is about zombies. This turned me away since I've never cared much for the idea of zombies. If this fact also makes you want to stray from reading this, do not let it. The Forest of Hands and Teeth is scary and sophisticated.

In The Forest of Hands and Teeth, the world has turned horrifying. A small fenced-in village lies in the midst of the Forest and it is dominated by the ideals of the Sisterhood. Mary can only dream of life outside the Forest, for she has been told that they are the last of humankind, that only the Unconsecrated lurk in the Forest outside of the fences, trying to get in and kill off the rest of them. Still, Mary questions the Sisterhood as she makes a few discoveries about them and the outside world, which she refuses to believe is nonexistent.

Mary is quite unhappy with this confusion as well as the confusion of having two men in love with her. But when the Unconsecrated manage to slip through the fences, pandemonium spreads, and everything Mary believes is tested as she strives to survive.

Wow. That word pretty much sums up this reading experience. This is a gripping page turner that is both suspenseful and sad. It's kind of a combination of The Village and Clive Barker's The Plague, only done much better and will appeal to much more people.

From the very first page I knew that this novel is darkly and wonderfully well-written. It was so epicly beautiful and really fit the storyline and situations throughout the entire book. I can't stress the practically perfect writing enough! Carrie Ryan is an artist with words! It's part of the reason why I love this book so much!

The Forest of Hands and Teeth had an effect that I don't recall ever experiencing while reading... I actually got scared. And I don't scare easily. But the Unconsecreated never rest, and I kept jumping at noises I heard while reading and had eerie dreams if I read too late into the night. The general setting kind of creeped me out even though I loved it (I'm a fan of forests), and it's all because of the Unconsecrated.

Everything in this book is so different than others I've read. Although it's dystopian, it feels more like you're going backwards in time by the way the community functions under the Sisterhood. (Might I add, the Sisterhood also scared me!) Even the love theme was atypical. It isn't a typical love triangle, it's more of a love square, but it's not always the most evident thing in the storyline. It seems that Mary knew who she wanted, but the question of what was more important hung with her: Fulfiling her childhood dreams and her curiosity, or love? I've never read about this sort of thing before since in most books nowadays love isn't questioned unless there's more than one man involved. I'm happy for this refreshing change of feel, and it fits Mary's character and showed that she really valued exploration. She's is a curious wanderer surrounded by tragedy, and I felt for her.

The ending was satisfying, but I'm still anxious for more! I recommend this frightening apocalyptic tale to just about anyone... Go buy it and read it NOW!

5/5 Stars


Ryan, Carrie. The Forest of Hands and Teeth
London: Gollancz (imprint of Orion Publishing Group)
2009