After finishing the tour for Evanescence's previous album, The Open Door, Amy Lee stated that she "didn't know what I was going to do next", and took a break to live life away from the industry.

[4][8] In a June 2009 post on the Evanescence website, Lee wrote that the band was writing material for an album planned for release the following year.

[21][3] On June 12, Lee announced that guitarist Troy McLawhorn was officially back in Evanescence, and confirmed the album's release date to be October 4, 2011.

We knew that there would be lots of tracks—drums, drum samples, a big bass sound, two guitar players, piano, tons of vocals, harmonies and overlapping tracks—just massive.

"[20] The album was mixed by Randy Staub at The Warehouse in Vancouver, on Studio 1's SSL G Series console, and Ted Jensen mastered it at Sterling Sound in New York City.

"[19] She said that Evanescence used new and vintage instruments (such as a harp, synthesizers and the Moog Taurus Pedal) and recorded the ballads "Secret Door" and "My Heart Is Broken".

[37] Evanescence's first track and lead single, "What You Want", was described as one of the band's most unusual songs with heavy guitar melodies, loud drums and a freedom theme.

[4] "The Change" (originally entitled "Purple"),[40] which begins gently and grows more insistent, has been compared to "Digital Bath" by the American alternative metal band Deftones.

[44] "Erase This", formerly titled "Vanilla",[40] was noted by Mary Ouellette of Loudwire as an "uptempo rocker" similar to "What You Want" which would sound better played live rather than through earphones.

[46] "Sick" has a loose, lazy melody and a chanted chorus;[49] one of the first songs written for the album, it "set[s] a heavy direction for the rest of the record.

"[50] "End of the Dream" begins "full bore with chunky guitar, then falls into a brooding grove with piano underpinning Lee's unmistakable vocals.

[2][59][60] Lee went to Toronto's Liberty Studios on August 22 to preview five mastered songs from the new album ("What You Want", "The Change", "The Other Side", "My Heart Is Broken" and "Lost in Paradise") to a selected audience of 30.

[24] Evanescence appeared at the Rock in Rio festival on October 2, 2011, performing "What You Want", "Made of Stone", "The Change", "The Other Side", "My Heart Is Broken", "Sick" and several songs from their previous two albums.

[66] On February 1, 2012, the band performed "My Heart Is Broken" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,[67] and two days later they played "Made of Stone" and "The Other Side" on Conan.

[74] Supported by The Pretty Reckless,[75] Fair to Midland[74] and Rival Sons,[76] the tour's set list included songs from Evanescence's three albums.

"[77] The Evanescence Tour continued in 2012 with concerts in the United States, Asia and Europe,[77] including Lisboa V in Portugal and Rock am Ring in Germany.

That tour began on July 31, 2012, at the Prairie Capital Convention Center in Springfield, Illinois and ended on September 2 at the Outer Harbor in Buffalo, New York.

[81][82] Its video, filmed in a Brooklyn, New York warehouse on July 30, 2011 with the band performing the song live, was directed by Meiert Avis and released on September 13.

[47] Rick Florino of Artistdirect wrote that "there's a pronounced vitality surging through these twelve songs, rising from the band's willingness to go out on a musical limb" and they "manage to experiment while staying unshakably infectious".

"[94] Entertainment Weekly's Kyle Anderson wrote, "When [Lee] uses baroque orchestral accoutrements to wage an air assault on her demons ... she's more than just the token girl in the pit.

"[93] In Digital Spy, Lewis Corner said that outside of the electronic excursions Evanescence's "melodious rock sensibilities remain firmly in tact" and "we wouldn't want it any other way.

"[36] IGN's Chad Grischow stated that Evanescence "delivers on the orchestral-laced hard rock thrust and Amy Lee's soaring vocals ... with a few surprising experiments along the way".

"[100] Theon Weber of Spin thought that Lee's performance was not restrained enough and "Evanescence gets lost in the cavernous spaces carved out by their unsecret weapon.

[97] Edna Gundersen of USA Today wrote that when "tempered, [Lee's] emotional wail enhances the hypnotic medieval magic of signature Evanescence tunes.

Some electronics slip into the mix, but the band's rock essence and penchant for weepy strings remain prominent, as does its flair for conveying wretched despair.

"[98] PopMatters' Dane Prokofiev disliked much of the rock-driven music, but praised Lee's voice and a "noticeable increase in the prominence of choir singing, tinkling piano motifs, and the silky sound of string instruments" toward symphonic metal.

[102] In The Boston Globe, Marc Hirsh wrote that Lee and the rest of the band found "creative foil" with each other and the album captures "each party elevating the other far above where their proclivities would get them on their own.

"[103] AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine praised Raskulinecz's production and the album having "some shade and light" and "variety of tempos, enough to give Evanescence the illusion of warmth, not to mention a fair share of crossover hooks.

"[92] Writing for Los Angeles Times, Mikael Wood said that while he had preferred a "livelier" album, Evanescence has standouts of "pain-soaked pleasure" and "ice-queen sarcasm" and "Lee hasn't lost her faith in goth-metal melodrama.

[119] Evanescence debuted and peaked at number five in Australia,[120] was certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipments of over 35,000 copies.