Evanescence, the gothic rock band that has been hanging around our local radio stations for years is back with a new album.

Their old songs “My Immortal” and the Grammy-winning “Bring Me To Life” will no doubt be familiar to anyone who has been up to date with pop culture for the last eight years.

On October 11, Evanescence released their first new album in five years, simply titled “Evanescence.” Their album is currently the top selling album on iTunes. Such popularity after a long hiatus leads this album to be regarded by some as a comeback album.

“Comeback album” is not exactly the first thing that comes to mind when listening to their new music; it’s more like a “we took all our old songs and slightly changed them” album.

The album was not bad, lead singer Amy Lee’s vocals are great, and there is a strong guitar backing her up.

The only problem was that none of their new songs seemed new. The songs are the same passionate, emotional, and gothic tunes of half a decade ago.

However, there were a few standout songs that broke the cycle of shout-singing rock, such as “Swimming Home” and “Secret Door.” But the redundant gothic flair remained throughout the album, as shown in “What You Want” and “Sick.”

“Swimming Home” is a sad, airy breakup song supported by Lee’s great vocals. Unlike most breakup songs, it’s not about being sad or being dumped, it’s about the sadness of leaving someone.

On the deluxe edition of the album, there is a bonus track called “Secret Door,” which manages to shake the gothic sound seen in all of the other songs with its dreamy lyrics and imagery, and classical violins and piano in the background. The song did stay in tune with the others as rather depressed, though.

The album is opened with “What You Want,” a typical Evanescence song: loud guitars, almost screaming lyrics and sad yet angry lyrics. Needless to say, this song is a lot like all of Evanescence’s other songs.

“Sick” is yet another predictable track on the album. It has all the components of an Evanescence song. It has depressed lyrics, an angry tone, lots of guitar, and emotional vocals. The lyrics are strong and borderline suicidal, and once again sounds like every song Evanescence has released.

Evanescence’s comeback album may be popular, but it is nothing new or exciting, and the band hasn’t seemed to change at all over the past five years.