New Evanescence coming out late 2005 ;p

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Evanescence singer Amy Lee hopes to have a follow up to the goth-rock group's two-year-old mega-hit "Fallen" in stores by the end of the year.

"I knew it was going to take a while, and it is. We're obviously taking longer than the average band," she told Billboard recently.

"Fallen," released in March 2003, has sold 6 million copies in the United States alone, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Last February, the band won two Grammys, for best new artist and hard rock performance.

In addition to writing individually, the members have done a little collaborating, Lee said.

"I started working with (guitar player) Terry Balsalmo, only for about 10 days. I taught myself Pro Tools, and we started recording. I was engineering, and it was really cool. He brings something totally different to the table; that's what I was hoping for." Balsalmo replaced co-founder Ben Moody, who left the band in late 2003.

Lee wouldn't reveal much about the new tunes, but added, "Trust me, it still sounds like Evanescence, but you can't just keep making the same music. We're still in the beginning stages. I don't know when we're going into the studio. Nothing's scheduled."

While she loved No Doubt frontwoman Gwen Stefani's recently released debut solo album, she did not ever see herself going that route.

"I get to express myself completely in Evanescence, so there isn't any reason to do a solo project. If I said, 'I want to stop Evanescence for a while and do something different,' it would be something totally different. I would become a painter or go into social work or write scores for movies or be a choir teacher. I really want to write choir music and teach a college choir."

Reuters/Billboard

[darko.]

my prayers were not answered.

I had heard it would possibly be an October or November release.