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MIRACLE MASTER
Tattooed Woman

GoldenCore / ZXY Music (2014)
Rating: 8.5/10

I do like a chunk of meaty, melodic metal and Miracle Master immediately grab me by the balls with those rich vocals and steely riffs. Miracle Master are a German / Danish quintet who have risen from the ashes of Pump, and feature vocalist Oliver Weers, guitarists Axel ‘Aki’ Reissmann and Marcel ‘Selly’ Bernhardt, bassist Michael Vetter and drummer Andreas Minich.

Before I cranked this up I was wondering just what on earth these guys would sound like? I thought that maybe there would be a sleazy edge, or maybe something very modern sounding, but I was wrong on both accounts because this is such a rewarding opus.

To describe it as melodic heavy metal wouldn’t do this 11-track platter justice, because as soon as one hears the chant of “Hey!” on opener ‘Come Alive’ I’m just reminded of pure late 80s American-influenced heavy metal. Try to imagine Whitesnake but at their most cutting edge with the little known grooves of Seattle’s War Babies. It’s not that Miracle Master are so hard to describe but in their simplicity they just rock so hard, and yet feature some truly golden melodies which are delivered with delicious quality from Weers.

Riff-wise Tattooed Woman is an extravaganza of an album that is burning hot with molten metal, and the whole record just flows so well, deviating between huge, fleshy chunks of fluent metal and simmering melodic moments.

‘Come Alive’ is without a shadow of a doubt one of 2014’s most explosive tracks and once its hooks are in, well, there’s no going back. ‘Tear Down The Walls’ is just as beefy, delivering a massive riff and booming chorus, but this record just gets stronger and stronger with every track it spews forth. The rock ’n’ growl of ‘We All Touch Evil’ begins with an AC/DC-styled guitar twinge before burning up like a comet in the night sky. Hell, this is as fiery as modern metal gets and yet not once does it rely on nostalgia or mimicry – it just has such a natural sense about it as it flows through the cracks like an ever flowing golden stream of substantial riffs and ample percussion.

The guitars on the album just meander like a smooth-skinned beast, rarely raunchy but just robust, taking the idea of Whitesnake but just making it so much more convincing – as ‘Why Religion’, with its monster riff, ‘Fly Away’ and the bluesy ‘Highway To Heaven’ will attest. I’m even reminded of the ballsy Beautiful Creatures – but one bereft of glitter – such is the presence of this ballsy record which has the killer choruses to match. ‘Stay With Me’ is an absolute behemoth, and the depth of ‘Miracle Master’ just cannot be rivaled as it thrashes to its hilt.

I may be sick to death of countless bands trying to sound “metal” but without conviction, however, Miracle Master has so effortlessly breathed new light into the metal genre by being so darn simple. By weaving together churning guitars, thunderous drums and bludgeoning bass – all lead out from the wilderness by those fiery vocals – Tattooed Woman is probably the most metal album you will hear this year; an album that is masculine, mature, well-rounded and honest. But above all, this album rocks… very, very hard.

Neil Arnold

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