The only thing that pisses me off about Evanescence is that bands like Within Temptation and Nightwish pioneered the female vocalist in metal trend, but Evanescence ended up being the preeminent band in the genre.
To me The Gathering and Theater of Tragedy were the pioneer bands with their releases in the early/mid nineties, and Within Temptation, Lacuna Coil, Nightwish, Tristania, etc coming out with their debut albums a few years later. But then again, I guess coming first doesn't always mean being pioneers, and the sound and style of those early bands didn't carry the mainstream appeal of the later bands, nor, come to think of it, did it shift in such a way either (The Gathering going towards ambient rock, and ToT going towards softer goth and then industrial).