The Vines return with their 7th studio album "In Miracle Land" in what seems like the most low key way possible. They released the first single off the album back in 2016 and it seemed an album was imminent as they tweeted "new album coming soon". Fast forward 2 years and it's finally here. Since 2016 there has been a serious lack of activity by the Vines on social media and really I had to be proactive to find out an album was still going to be released. They haven't released any videos or other songs in the run up to the album coming out and only a few posts saying that album is going to/and is released. But that's not all, currently you can only stream the album on Amazon and the actual CD is not out till next week unless you buy it direct from the Vines webstore. The CD is currently priced on Amazon at a ridiculous £18.
I'm not sure what is going on in the world of the Vines at the moment but you would have thought they would put a bit of effort in to actually promoting this album. I'm not sure if its down to the label or the band. It could be that the band just don't like social media or that they feel that they have the fanbase and that will be enough to sell records. Which I think for a band like The Vines is vital since their live presence outwith Australia is non existent since their early days. Now their lack of live presence is not a critism as this is down to lead singer Craig Nicolases condition as to why they don't tour outwith Australia. While many bands nowadays make their money from touring. You would have thought that since the Vines can't they would make more effort to promote the album.
Anyway enough about the current mysteries surrounding the release. Let's get into this album. Miracle Land is the follow up to 2014s double album "Wicked Nature". While The Vines are well known for their care free rock n roll. "Wicked Nature" took this a bit to the extreme. It felt a bit rushed and a more all over the place. But I loved it. Everytime a song from it came on shuffle from that album, I would be drawn into listening to that album again. "Miracle Land" does seem like they have taken a bit more time to polish off the songs.
I think what The Vines do best is their all out rock songs and this album has some right crackers on it. "Slide away" in particular and at the moment that is my favourite track off the album. Other all out rock stompers include "Leave me alone" and "I wanna go down". They also have these really nice kick back tracks such as "Broken Heart" which particulary deserves a mention due to the fine guitar work on display. Title track "Miracle Land" will bring back some memories from fans who grew up in the 90s playing the Sega Master system like I did as this song is about the video game Alex the kid in miracle land. It's nice that Craig delves into something different lyrically to the norm.
This album does come with some weaker tracks in the shape of "Willow" and "Emerald Ivy". "Willow" has a bit of annoying guitar riff which just goes round and round. "Emerald Ivy" just feels like it never gets going. There is no real hook to reel you in and ends up passing you by. These come back to back, but then you have the wonderful "Sky Gazer". What I love about this track is the way it changes pace throughout the song. It's also the longest track on the album sitting at 4 minutes.
Overall, although "Miracle Land" does have its weaker points; this is a very solid album. It's very well balanced and is well produced. And although this is not quite at the level of "Highly Evolved" which in my opinion is still their best work, this does fit into their back catologue very nicely. With songs like "Slide away", "In Miracle land" and "I wanna go down" I can see fitting into their live set for the forseeable future. I just hope for their sakes they promote it a bit more so it gets the attention it deserves.
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