…and yet another Melodic Death Metal band I got to like. Maybe Frank should sack me right now ; -) . Yes, MOURNING CARESS from Münster, Germany, are definitely fans of bands such as IN FLAMES, SOILWORK and the likes. What counts for MOURNING CARESS is the fact that they’re good musicians (in comparison to the aforementioned bands, or what? Somehow this should be the first rule for any band before they record ANYTHING but unfortunately it’s not). Furthermore, MOURNING CARESS are pretty good songwriters. Their compositions don’t follow the typical pattern of aggression that most of the hordes of AT THE GATES clones use. Instead, MOURNING CARESS develop a rather unusual sort of melancholy through massive use of clean guitar sounds and pickings. No Finnish melancholy, though, more of a German one (Germans can be terribly melancholic or melodramatic, believe me) that vaguely reminds me of SOILWORK (yeah, I know they’re not German, calm down!). Personally, I’m not so fond of their straight bangers like ‘A Lifeless Time’ but maybe those songs make the calm ones more intense. ‘Falling’ is a fucking hit, by the way. Another slight point of criticism is singer Gerrit who gives 100% all the time but tends to forget that even in Death Metal there are more tones than "simply" screaming out one’s lungs. Once again, ‘Falling’ shows that he can handle dynamics but I’m sure he can do even better. Maybe with a little more time in the studio he might come closer to perfection next time. Generally, I like his suffering voice a quite a lot. "Imbalance" is a truly cool album that I love for its dynamics and depth, so take a look at their homepage: www.mourningcaress.com and try to catch them live because on stage they absolutely rock!