Co-founders singer and pianist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody began writing and recording songs as Evanescence in 1994, and after releasing two EPs and a demo CD, they signed to Wind-up in January 2001.

[10][6][13] Lee had a 16-track recorder that she and him would use alongside Pro Tools, "fake strings and choirs" on her keyboard, and layer sounds and beats for their early material, which they mixed and produced.

The creation of Fallen largely consisted of her and Moody writing music separately and then adding to each other's work, due to tension and significant creative differences between them.

[39] He later conceded that they had different approaches, adding that Lee is "more creative" and "more educated musically", and he is "more commercial minded" and likes making "songs people can adhere to.

"[30] In 2006, she said that Moody and the label "packed down and condensed" the original versions of the songs, and she thought that "in some respects, it felt like it was pulling some of the artistic integrity out".

"[45] Lee deemed the "fight for credibility" as a creator to be one of the biggest challenges she faced early on, explaining: "It was the mentality of labels to tell, especially newer artists, that they need to have writers.

"[10][30] Lee wrote the album's lyrics except "My Immortal"'s, the melodies, much of the music, pianos, and all the choirs;[58] she is credited with the choral arrangements.

"[61] Lee later said that after completing the songs that came out of an abusive relationship, she was listening to her words on "Going Under" and felt that in the chorus she would have liked to have written instead the notion of "I'm leaving and I'm not going to put up with this anymore", thinking to herself "you know what you need to do and you're not doing it.

"[71][49] "From the sparkling piano to the epic choruses, to Lee's siren call", Billboard considered "Bring Me to Life" Fallen's "definitive track.

Lee wrote "Everybody's Fool" in 1999 about the lie of pop stardom life and unrealistic, over-sexualized images that warped the youth's expectations.

[68] When asked about it in 2016, Lee said she wrote it as "an angsty teenager" about her "frustration with fakeness" that sprung at the time from all the "bubblegum pop acts" that were "put together like products" influencing young people, including her younger siblings.

The re-recording Lee and Moody made for Fallen was used for the single, dubbed "band" version, featuring guitar, drums and bass after the bridge and a new string arrangement by David Campbell.

[57][62][48] Billboard described the combination of Lee's lyrics, the piano, "crashing drums" and the Millennial Choir as painting "a picture of the heavens shooting overhead".

[88] Driven by guitar and Lee's "commanding voice", it features the "booming" Millennium Choir singing in Latin, ending the album "on a foreboding note", Billboard wrote.

Moody also disliked the nu metal label, stating: "I think the only nu-metal thing about us is the fact that on one song we have rap and singing".

And the sound quality is bad because we had to break into the studio to record it late at night when no one was around because we couldn't afford a real session.

[99] Fallen was mixed over a two-week period at Conway Recording Studios in North Hollywood, and mastered by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound in New York City.

Wind-Up "began courting the Christian music market more than a year ago, making its first foray with 12 Stones' self-titled 2002 debut.

Hooking up with powerhouse Christian music distributor Provident ... Wind-Up attempted to tap into a segment that generated sales of more than 50 million albums in 2002".

[110][14][111] After the song was released on the Daredevil soundtrack, a grassroots fanbase grew and listeners began requesting air play for it, compelling radio stations to reconsider the band.

"[114]After the album's completion, Evanescence's touring lineup was hired, including guitarist John LeCompt, drummer Rocky Gray, and bassist Will Boyd.

"[89] Entertainment Weekly, graded the album B-minus: "The genre now too old to be called nü-metal isn't exactly overflowing with spine-tinglingly great vocalists – let alone female ones.

"[90] Kirk Miller of Rolling Stone said that "when vocalist Amy Lee croons about lying 'in my field of paper flowers' or 'pouring crimson regret,' she gives Fallen a creepy spiritual tinge that the new-metal boys lack.

"[124] Melissa Maerz of Spin gave it four out of five stars: "Nu metal gets a powdering of Andrew Lloyd Webber theatrics as Lee aces her piano A-levels, adds a string section, and tackles capital letter issues – God ('Tourniquet'), Love ('Going Under'), and Death ('Bring Me To Life') – with the grandeur they deserve.

"[60] Adrien Begrand of PopMatters opined that the album "has a small handful of transcendent moments, but a complete lack of musical adventurousness has the band mucking around either in stultifying nu-metal riffage, pretentious high school journal caterwauling, or even worse, both."

"[93] According to Village Voice critic Robert Christgau, "Their faith, as embodied in Amy Lee's clarion sopralto [sic], lends their goth-metal a palpable sweetness".

"[92] In 2017, Rolling Stone ranked Fallen number 99 on their list of "The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time", calling it an "unlikely classic" with "a horror-movie-level ambience that was as chilling as it was campy".

[135] The album reached number one (with 38,570 copies sold) seven weeks later, after "Bring Me to Life" topped the UK Singles Chart.

According to Nielsen SoundScan figures, after more than three months in the top 10 of the Canadian Albums Chart Fallen peaked at number one on August 13, 2003 with sales of 8,900 copies.

[138] All tracks are written by Ben Moody, Amy Lee, and David Hodges, except where notedCredits adapted from the liner notes of Fallen.