Evidence One - Tattoed Heart

*=Staff's pick	Moonsigh Virus In My Veins Written In Blood Tattooed Heart Infinite Seconds When Thunder Hits The Ground* In Love And War* Slave To The Machine Anything I Need To Know* Child Of Insanity*

Genre	Melodic Heavy Metal	Carsten Schulz	Vocals
Tracks	10	Robby Boebel	Guitar
Runningtime	44 Min.	Wolfgang Schimmer	Guitar
Label	Nuclear Blast	Hutch Bauer	Bass
Release	15 Nov. 2004	Rami Ali	Drums
Country	Germany	Robby Boebel	Keyboards
Similar artists	Masterplan, Axel Rudi Pell

Could it be some kind of mistake on the label? Because this must be Masterplan's new release, mustn't it? It is confusing enough that vocalist Carsten "Lizard" Schulz is a copy of a certain guy called Jorn Lande. But besides from that, the whole sound is strikingly similar to the above mentioned countrymen's debut. Perhaps with a bit extra touch of AOR. Even the cover design arouses suspicions. That had its natural explanation, since the same designer was hired (Thomas Ewerhard). With this straighten out I will go on to the essentials.

Evidence One mainly consists of members from Frontline, but is actually supposed to be the guitarist Robby Boebels solo project. It is a rather grey collection of songs that the band delivers on this second release. No one falls out of line, but no one really takes the front position either. It is a compact studio product with a clear idea of a sound. It is one of those where the production is almost too clean and the drumming a bit too static. Robby Boebels guitar delivers solo after solo, but he manages to keep up the feeling. It is actually rather unusual that today's metal guitarists have that feeling, where technique melts and mixes with the attitude of dirty rock and melody, without the transforming into dull masturbation.

Some kind of oriental keyboard leads us into the first song, Moonsigh, where it soon is followed by a half-heavy riff. It is quite slow for a starting track, but it nevertheless sets the trend for the sound of the following forty-five minutes of your life. After a while, when When Thunder Hits The Ground pressure itself through your speakers, it is the top of this iceberg of genuine, melodic metal. In Love And War earns a positive remark as well, as a nice melody in between pompous power ballad and melodic epic mid tempo.

So to conclude, this is really good. If you like Masterplan and don't suffer of copyphobia, this is something worth to spend some money on. If you like melodic metal with strong vocals (but not necessarily in constant falsetto), this should be checked. If you like smooth guitar solos to play by ear on your air guitar, you can also get in the line. But if the vocals and the guitar add to the grade, the overall song material actually holds it down a bit. Evidence One has already been opening act for Saxon and I guess that it's more to come in that role in the near future - to start with. Along with some visit to a festival near you.

Production	Vocals	Compositions
6	9	6

Summary
7 chalices of 10 - David