After Evanescence's major label debut, Fallen, which sold more than 6.6 million copies in the United States alone (and over 14 million worldwide), their follow-up album The Open Door hit store shelves on October 3rd and sold 447,000 copies on its first week.

The Open Door beat out The Killers' album by a difference of more than 133,000 copies in the US market as the band toured Boston and New York among other major cities in the north-east on the CD's opening week. In Canada, however, the album fell just short of The Killers' CD's sales by a difference of 1,000 copies as Evanescence's new effort sold 43,000 versus the Killers' 44,000.

It's also worth noting that Fallen only debuted at #7 on the Billboards but later advanced to the #1 position by positive word-of-mouth and remained in the top 10 for over a year after its release.

Check out our gallery section for photos from the Toronto, Montreal, Boston and New York concerts that kicked off the band's new promotional tour. On a side note, Terry Balsamo openly mentioned to fans in Toronto that the next tour will begin in January of 2007.

Tim McCord, guitarist of Revolution Smile, has been announced as the new bassist of Evanescence in place of Will Boyd.

Having performed live with the band since the pre-Fallen era through the international stadium tour of 2004, Will made his decision against touring for The Open Door in order to stay close to his family. Amy Lee broke the news to the media in an interview with MTV.

"He's awesome," she told MTV. "We got a lot of recommendations, and we just met and hung out to see how we got along. And Tim was really cool and laid-back - just a normal dude that I feel like we can easily hang out with and hopefully vibe great with onstage."

McCord hails from Sacramento, California. His past projects include Double Think, Rings of Saturn, The Revolution Smile, and playing Bass and Keyboard for a band called Quitter from 2000 to 2004.


(Credit: MTV, Wikipedia, IUMA, EvBoard)

Weeks after the initial reports by Blender magazine, an official press release confirms the title and revised release date of the band's new album. It will be entitled "The Open Door", now scheduled for release on October 3rd, 2006.

The official press release follows:




Los Angeles (April 26, 2006) -- Following the multi-platinum, worldwide success of their major-label debut, Fallen, Evanescence is poised to build upon their respected position in the rock community with their sophomore effort, The Open Door, from Wind-up Records in stores October 3, 2006.

With what some call a meteoric rise to the top, Fallen brought the Little Rock, Arkansas band to global success with 14 million records in the hands of fans worldwide, two Top 10 singles, "My Immortal" and "Bring Me To Life," two Grammy® Awards in 2003 (Best New Artist and Best Hard Rock Performance for "Bring Me To Life"). Fallen spent over one hundred weeks on Billboard Magazine's Top 200 chart, was certified gold or platinum in over 35 countries Worldwide, and supported sold-out arenas globally.

The Open Door was recorded in Los Angeles at The Record Plant in early 2006 and mixed at the venerable Ocean Way Studios in March 2006. It includes the return of long-time friend and producer Dave Fortman (Mudvayne, Bif Naked). The new album is an ideal showcase for the band's inevitable personal and professional growth, with songs of introspection, longing, doubt, self-respect and ultimately, empowerment and anticipation. Several songs include a choir, as well as strings recorded in an old chapel. The album is defined by Amy Lee's beautiful melodies, profound lyrics, stunning vocals and poignant piano, which fuse with Terry Balsamo's urgent, yet intricate guitar playing, to form a remarkable, ethereal blend perfectly rooted in the band's rock and classical sensibilities.

"The making of this record has been really intense, but I've come out feeling purified," shared Lee. "I've grown so much since 'Fallen,' and Terry is the perfect writing partner -- I feel like I've been lifted up to a whole new level of inspiration and possibilities. After all the things we've seen over the past couple of years, beautiful and tragic, in the end I'm really grateful. It has made us create music I could not be more in love with."

Evanescence is Amy Lee (vocals, piano), Terry Balsamo (guitar), John LeCompt (guitar), Will Boyd (bass) and Rocky Gray (drums). Formed in the late '90s, Evanescence released two EPs and their first full-length album, the much-sought-after Origin, which included "My Immortal," on their own before finding a home at Wind-up Records. Fallen, their major-label debut, was released in April 2003 to critical and commercial success and is certified 6x platinum. Anywhere But Home, their 2004 live DVD release, has sold over 1 million copies. For more information, please visit www.evanescence.com or www.winduprecords.com.