Carly Smithson Gets Pulled Under

Hooray, I qualified to get a free MP3 of “Bury Me Alive,” the first single from the Carly Smithson/Evanescence dudes project The Fallen! And it sounds… like a big, vaguely gothy, mooky rock song, complete with chorus that’s a bit of a Xerox of that from that band’s 2003 track “Going Under.” This is not a complaint–“Going Under” was actually one of my favorite tracks the year it came out, and it was way superior to their big hit with that vestigial tail of a “rap” verse”–but I figured it was worthy of mention. Smithson’s voice sounds in fine form, if a bit studio-massaged, and the band sounds, you know, like a band trying to get on modern-rock radio. I hope it works, because as has been mentioned before, that format is way bereft of ladies. This seems like an appropriate place to note that Smithson’s American Idol BFF, the fetching Aussie Michael Johns, also has an album coming out today. Here is him doing the first single off Hold Back My Heart, called “Heart On My Sleeve”: Apparently his album is on the cooler-than-you haven Downtown Records, although he hasn’t been added to the label’s official site yet. Hope this slight means he at least gets an extra beer ad out of the deal. The Fallen – Bury Me Alive [YouTube] Evanescence – Going Under [YouTube]