Evidence One - Tattooed Heart
Nuclear Blast
Melodic Heavy/Power Metal
10 songs (43'47)
Release year: 2004
Evidence One, Nuclear Blast
Reviewed by Marty
Tattooed Heart is the second release from these German melodic metal-meisters. Their debut album, Criticize The Truth was a great success and landed the band a support slot on the last Saxon European tour and as well played both the Gods Of Metal and Wacken festivals. Evidence One consists of Robby Boebel, guitar (Frontline), Carsten Shulz, vocals (Domain), Thomas Bauer, bass (Frontline) and Rami Ali, drums. A second guitarist, Wolfgang Schimmer was added to the lineup just prior to the recording of this new album.

With a sound that sounds very much like many of the Swedish melodic metal bands, it came as a surprise to me that this band is from Germany. With a rich and heavy yet very melodic sound, they embrace the classic 80's sound of bands like Dokken, Scorpions and Tesla but with a decidedly heavier edge. The album opens with the Eastern-flavored Moonsigh, a track that has huge riffs, a mid-tempo pounding heavy style and a very strong vocal performance by Carsten Shuz, reminding me a lot of Marc Storace from Krokus. The production is mammoth with a crystal clear, melodic yet heavy sound. The band mixes up tempos with the speedier sounds of Virus In My Veins and Child Of Insanity as well as the galloping style of Written In Blood. The pounding heavy melodic style is used a lot; more notably with tracks like the title track Tattooed Heart, Infinite Seconds and In Love And War. More standard melodic hard rock styles can be heard with songs like When The Thunder Hits The Ground, Slave To The Machine and Anything I Need To Know. Carsten Shulz has an amazing voice and he sings with great passion and emotion. All the songs have a great sound, solid melodic choruses and all are of very high quality. There's a few standout tracks but picking the best ones on this album would be entirely a matter of personal preference......they're all good!!

There's nothing really new here and we've heard this sort of melodic heavy metal style many times before but this band delivers a very high quality brand that's not only great sounding but has the quality in the songwriting and arrangements that sets them way above many other bands in the same genre. My only real criticism is that about two-thirds of the way through the album, it starts to get somewhat repetitive and predictable. The same holds true for many other bands in this genre but Evidence One really knows how to arrange their songs properly to keep the listener interested and the excitement level high throughout.

If you're a fan of bands like Jaded Heart, Altaria, Royal Hunt, Thunderstone and Pink Cream 69, you really shouldn't pass this band up. I haven't heard their first album but after hearing this new one, it's now on my ever-increasing list of CDs to buy. Melodic metal fans will eat this up.........

Killing Songs :
Moonsigh, Virus In My Veins, Written In Blood, Infinite Seconds, In Love And War and Slave To The Machine
Marty quoted 84 / 100
Danny quoted 92 / 100
Other albums by Evidence One that we have reviewed:
Evidence One - The Sky Is The Limit reviewed by Marty and quoted 88 / 100
Evidence One - Criticize The Truth reviewed by Danny and quoted 83 / 100
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