Over three years after their debut album went six-times platinum, Evanescence had to release a new album without their main songwriter and co-founder, who has since left the band.

If you think Evanescence had their work cut out for them, you’re not alone.

The powerhouse rock band exploded onto the music scene in 2003 with “Fallen,” an 11-track record packed with powerful, tear-jerking lyrics and haunting, melodic instrumentals, all headed up by the atypical bonus of a female front.

Breakout hits such as “Bring Me To Life” and “My Immortal” catapulted the record to pop stardom, but the fans its hits lured would find even more in the complete package.

The rest of the record would endear them to the band so completely that its striking success was inevitable.

Now, the door has been opened to a new generation of Evanescence songs after the departure of Ben Moody, co-founder of the band and co-writer of the song “Fallen.” And it will take some getting used to. What remains of the founding pair is vocal vixen Amy Lee.

Lee makes it clear that she’s stepped it up right away with “Sweet Sacrifice,” a succinct introduction in which she pushes and bends her voice over backward in ways she never dared in “Fallen.”

The song itself is good, not great, but it works as an introduction to what’s coming.

The next track is “Call Me When You’re Sober,” which is a great song, perhaps because it echoes the sound of “Fallen” while subtly including Lee’s new, more soulful vocal techniques.

However, while “Sober” is likely to be the most popular track on the album, it is not necessarily the best, showing the band’s growth away from commercial songwriting.

It’s followed by “Weight of the World,” which easily rivals Fallen’s “Imaginary” for its raw forcefulness, but has a beautiful Middle Eastern quality to its opening riffs.

This song is possibly the best new contribution to Evanescence’s repertoire.

One downside is that there’s really no sense that this is a band. In the “Sober” video, the songs seem to focus solely on Amy. There is not a single guitar solo on the album, and therefore it would probably have benefited from a more well-rounded exposition.

“Lithium,” “Cloud Nine” and “Snow White Queen,” like “Sweet Sacrifice,” will all need time to grow on listeners, but are still enjoyable songs.

There isn’t a truly terrible song on this album, though there are disappointments.

“Lacrymosa” is the worst, not because it is painful to listen to, but because of its choral and orchestral backdrop it could have been so much more. The song feels too abbreviated for its own amazing sound.

The strong showing from the album’s opening then drops into a mediocre second half, with songs that certainly possess the band’s signature qualities, but don’t work very well as a whole.

Concluding the album, however, is its slow piece at long last.

“Good Enough” is a gorgeous emotional piece that the band’s Web site calls, in a very accurate description, Evanescence’s “first truly (almost) contented song.”

“The Open Door” is not going to enjoy the same commercial success as “Fallen,” but it easily proves that Evanescence is still going strong.

Who needs Moody anyway?