The album opens with "Push the Button," which is the song that I have seen receive the most amount of negative criticism (even though it is my favorite song from the album). The song sounds like a song that you would expect to hear in a scene of a film or television series that takes place in some sort of night club. Lee's moaning sounds are deeply reminiscent of Madonna's early '90s Erotica sound. The song is Madonna meets Annie Lennox, with a dance beat and ethereal vocals. I haven't yet, but I honestly cannot wait to work out to this song. "Push the Button" is the only song on the album with this sound, though, as most of the remainder of the album consists of strings with no vocals, as is the case with "White Out," the second track. This track is only a minute-and-a-half and is actually a bit of a disappointment to me because, although beautiful, it would seem that Amy Lee had absolutely nothing to do with it. If you look at the digital booklet, you will see that the credits for this track credit Dave Eggar and Chuck Palmer as the writers and producers, Dave Eggar, Dave Nelson, and Thad DeBrock as the performers, and Chuck Palmer as the mixer. Amy Lee had no involvement with this song according to the credits, so that is a bit of a letdown for me. The track is very slow with light strings that sound very much like an introduction to a film. This track might, in fact, be heard at the beginning of War Story, but I wouldn't know because I haven't seen it yet.
The third track is titled "Remember to Breathe," and although Amy Lee does have some involvement in the track as the mixer and producer, she apparently did not write or perform the track (both of those credits go to Dave Eggar). The track is another very slow and quiet one, with deep strings reverberating for another minute-and-a-half. The track moves very smoothly into the fourth track, titled "Dark Water," a very full-sounding song with Arabic lyrics and chanting. World singer Malika Zarra lends vocals to the song and actually sings most of it, with supporting chanting performed by Lee. The song picks up speed from the previous two tracks, as it is something to which you could dance. "Dark Water" features Arabic lyrics that are an interpretation of a poem that I am assuming was written by Amy, as it is published in the digital booklet of the album. According to Lee, the track, although on Aftermath, was not actually used in War Story. "Between Worlds" is another instrumental piece, this time with Lee featured as both a writer and a performer. It sounds very similar to "White Out" to me, and the melody reminds me of The Open Door (Evanescence's third album). It has a dreamy and wistful sound to it, as does "Drifter," the next piece. "Drifter" features Lee's typical instrument of choice, the piano, and it reminds me of anime. Anime very often features very sad, melancholy music played on piano, and this piece definitely brings to my mind anime such as Fullmetal Alchemist.
"Drifter" moves very smoothly into "Can't Stop What's Coming," one of four tracks to feature vocals. The track begins with piano and moves into a steady and soft beat (that reminds me very much of Massive Attack) and Amy's soaring chanting and lyrics. The song is only slightly over two minutes long and does not feature many lyrics: "Can't stop what's coming. Can't stop what's coming over me. I can't stop what's coming. I dream of falling into you, like sleep, not to feel, just to sleep." "Voice in My Head" is yet another instrumental piece and is like "Drifter" in that it is mostly dominated by piano. It sounds a little ambitious, as I can imagine myself listening to music like "Voice in My Head" while doing something creative such as writing. As the piece progresses, that is exactly what it reminds me of - inspiration causing thoughts and ideas to form. "Lockdown" is the final song on the album. It reminds me of synthpop and almost sounds to me like something The Cure or Depeche Mode might do. This is one of the four songs on the album that I don't think is too far from the usual sound of Evanescence; the electronic sound kind of reminds me of Origin. Lyrically, the song is about someone coping with some sort of trauma, which is not only in keeping with what I know War Story to be about but is also in keeping with the theme of several Evanescence songs. The album concludes with the instrumental piece "After," which, from what I have read, also closes the film. It is a very slow and very sad-sounding piece played on strings, and like "White Out," Lee had no involvement according to the credits.
I would be lying if I said that I don't miss the heavier sound of Evanescence, but I am quite honestly just happy that Lee has released something, something that is, in my opinion, musically and artistically innovative and original. Aftermath, to me, represents the realization of a dream, as, like I stated before, an alternative metal musician set a goal of eventually scoring a film, and she did just that. It is also considered her first solo album, and although I will not go so far as to say that I would wholly dispute that, I will definitely say that it's debatable. It is definitely solo in the sense that it's detached from Evanescence, but Lee worked with several other musicians such as Dave Eggar and Chuck Palmer, and, as I previously stated, she apparently was not even involved in two of the album's tracks. I really love Aftermath, though, and I find a lot of fans to be responding to it far too harshly. It's fine to have a negative opinion of something released by an artist, even if it's an artist that you really like, but to be disrespectful about it is a different story. Evanescence fans should be respectful of the fact that Lee is breaking out of a shell and is doing her own thing. It is not selfish for an artist to do what makes him or her happy rather than to do what is expected of him or her. My only two complaints are that (a) as I said, I wish that Amy Lee were involved in all of the album's material, and (b) I wish that the album were longer. With only ten tracks, some of which are very short, the album is only thirty minutes long. I am a little bit dismayed by the fact that she has said recently that going into the studio with the rest of Evanescence is not in store for the near future, but at the same time, I am excited to hopefully hear another project from Amy in the (hopefully near) future!
