MOURNING CARESS was founded by vocalist Gerrit and drummer Dominik at the end of 1998. Shortly after, the other three caressing mourners Benedikt, Florian and Daniel joined. The line-up has remained stable up to now. One year later the band released its first sonic attack entitled ”The Divine Grave”, which got good response from the underground press all around the world and helped spread the word about the band.

As some of you might already know, the purpose of the release was to do something against the musical void in the boring town of Münster, which is more known for bicycles and bad weather than for Heavy Metal. The second attempt to irritate the public in the bicycle infested town and beyond was made at the end of the year 2000 with the release of the second self-produced MCD entitled ”Perspectives”. Incorporating some clean guitars, more dynamics and straight Rock’N’Roll elements, the band felt it had found a musical style it could more or less claim its own. Reactions to ”Perspectives” were far greater than expected. The MCD was positively reviewed in lots of popular Metal magazines, webzines and fanzines all around the world, the tunes were played in underground radio-shows and quite a few interview inquiries followed.

ARISE REC. from Spain became aware of the lunatic quintet and decided to help the band on their mission to one day make the ”M” of ”Münster” stand for ”Metal”. After having signed a deal with the Spanish label in spring 2001 the band entered producer Andy Classen’s Stage One Studio for three weeks in November of the same year. The album was mastered in the well-known Finnvox Studios in Finland and to round it properly, the artwork was created by Niklas Sundin, graphic designer and guitarist of Dark Tranquillity.

”Imbalance” was released 2002 and contained ten songs. It still states what MOURNING CARESS stands for: honest Metal consisting of catchy rocking riffs, aggressive vocals, melancholic melodies, clean guitars and a powerful rhythm-section. MOURNING CARESS and ARISE RECORDS split ways in 2003 and the band has been playing gigs and working on new material since then. New material for the long awaited “Imbalance” successor is due to be recorded during 2005. The band is currently unsigned.

So far MOURNING CARESS have played with bands such as TANKARD, NAGLFAR, GRAVE, GOD DETHRONED, THE FORSAKEN, DEW-SCENTED, NIGHT IN GALES, BURDEN OF GRIEF to name a few. Festival appearances include: SUMMER BREEZE OPEN AIR 2002 in Abtsgmünd, ROCK STATION FESTIVAL 2003 in Ankara/ Turkey,WESTFALEN FESTIVAL 2003 in Dortmund and ZILLO FESTIVAL 2004 in St. Goarshausen. The band is booked for this year’s ROCK STATION FESTIVAL in Ankara/ Turkey.


*http://www.mourningcaress.com