We Are The Fallen

In 2008, several alumni of the goth metal/pop act Evanescence launched We Are the Fallen, taking the group's name from the 2003 Evanescence album Fallen. The project retained that outfit's taste for melodrama and brooding theatricality while redirecting attention to the ensemble rather than any single front person. Rocky Gray, John LeCompt, and Ben Moody—the last of whom exited Evanescence in 2003—had weathered mounting internal friction as the earlier band achieved worldwide success behind talented singer/pianist Amy Lee; they therefore turned to former American Idol contestant Carly Smithson to handle lead vocals on the new venture. We Are the Fallen unveiled the single "Bury Me Alive" on June 22, 2009, and issued the debut album Tear the World Down in May 2010.