[7.5/10] Around the turn of the new millennium, German (Münster based) act Mourning Caress were really starting to make a small name for themselves, with their two EP releases in the form of 1999’s The Divine Grave and 2000’s Perspectives and their debut full-length release, 2002’s Imbalance getting some positive attention from the European metal press. But then as quickly as the band appeared on the scene, they disappeared.

That was a long six years ago. And once again, the band have returned, with not only a new line-up, but also a new label, with Restrain Records signing up the band following their split with Arise Records (the band now comprises of vocalist Gerrit Mohr, guitarists Benedikt Bjarnason and Florian Albers, bassist Daniel Busche and drummer Dominik Schlüter).

As you would expect, six years is a long time between releases, and Mourning Caress’ second full-length effort Inner Exile is proof of that. Often labelled as a melodic death metal band, Mourning Caress has actually moved on from that sound on Inner Exile. Instead, the band seem to mix their melodic death metal sound of the past with elements of thrash, traditional heavy metal and a touch of heavy rock filtering throughout the eleven tracks of their new album.

For the most part, Mourning Caress pull off their new hybrid sound, with the opening track “...Of Fortune And Failure” a fine example of what the band have to offer. The riffs are quite raw sounding and dominatingly heavy throughout, while the rhythm section fills out behind with some fairly tight knit grooves. If there’s a sticking point to the band’s revamped sound, it would have to be Mohr’s vocals. Singing predominately in the one tone, Mohr can pull off the aggressive elements of the song quite admirably. But the issue is that his vocals tend to get a little one-dimensional after a while, which drags the album down a little.

Although the album doesn’t have any real filler tracks, definite highlights include the catchy “Corroded By Fear,” the slower-paced “As Long As We Are One,” the rockier “Nothing Is Lost,” the hardcore influenced “Too Deep Inside” and “Frustrations.”

While Inner Exile will no doubt be looked over in favour of a lot of other big name releases, Mourning Caress are an interesting sounding act, and one that could really come up with something special in the future if they continue to pursue another full-length in the future.

www.mourningcaress.de