The Open Door is the second studio album by Evanescence. It was originally released in 2006. The record symbolizes a new beginning for the band, incorporating new elements into their previous musical styles, including gothic rock, symphonic rock and pop music as well as the use of choirs on several songs. The writing process for the album took over 18 months to complete; most of the songs were written by Amy Lee and Terry Balsamo, while production was handled by Dave Fortman. The Open Door was nominated at the 50th Grammy Awards for Best Hard Rock Performance for "Sweet Sacrifice". The band also won in the category of Album of the Year at the 2007 MTV Australia Video Music Awards. The Open Door debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling more than 447,000 copies in it's first week. It topped the charts in Australia, Europe, Germany, Greece and Switzerland, and charted in top five in over fifteen countries.
