Germany’s Flowing Tears are a band who are somewhat unique in the gothic metal scene. Deep female vocals and a strong straightforward metal sound is their signature style, rather than the soprano vocals and orchestral accompaniment more common to many female fronted metal bands at the moment. Flowing Tears started life as the rather lengthier ‘Flowing Tears and Withered Flowers’, forming in Saarbrucken, Germany in 1994. They were initially a doom band, with 13 minute longs songs and male grunt vocals, quite far removed from what they were to become. The band’s line up was not stable for a long time – by the recording of the first album the guitarist had already been replaced by Benjamin Buss, who along with Frederic Lesny, the bass player, is the band’s longest serving member.

They released their first album ‘Swansongs’ in 1996, on now defunct Italian underground label ‘Seven Arts’. No longer available it is something of a rarity and quite sought after by die-hard Flowing Tears fans. Very different in style to later albums, it is a mournful and mellow affair, with the male vocals almost spoken in places, rather than sung or grunted. As guitarist Benjamin Buss has himself said, it is not one for anyone but the die-hard fan as it is so unlike their later material.

It is second album ‘Joy Parade’ that could be considered the first proper Flowing Tears release, though they still went under their rather longer name at this point. Vocalist Manfred Bersin gave up his position as singer to play guitars and the band were unable to find a replacement male singer who could provide the melodic vocals they wanted. It was by chance one day that their bassist bought friend and classmate Stefanie Duchene along to rehearsals. They decided to try her out and she fit, thereby launching Flowing Tears more or less as we know it today.

‘Joy Parade’ was released in 1998, also on ‘Seven Arts’ and still under the name of ‘Flowing Tears and Withered Flowers’. It is a big progression from the first album, with a slow and quite mellow style, very piano led, with acoustic guitars playing a more important role than heavy guitars. These are kept to a minimum rather than as the driving force of the songs. Like ‘Swansongs’ it is no longer available, though the band have the rights to it and have expressed the desire to re-release it at some point.

After ‘Joy Parade’ Flowing Tears left ‘Seven Arts’ and self-released promotional EP ‘Swallow’, limited to 500 copies. This was their last release before shortening their name to Flowing Tears. It was around this time, while on tour with The Gathering that they were spotted and signed by label Century Media , where they remain to this day.

Flowing Tears released their first album on Century Media in 2000. ‘Jade’ contains hints of the band’s doom roots, with slow-paced and atmospheric songs. While it is an album the band are proud of, after touring it extensively they came to the conclusion that it was not good to play live. This directly affected them when they came to write next album ‘Serpentine’. Released in 2002 it is a heavier and more-fast paced affair – it is songs from this and follow up album ‘Razorbliss’ that feature most heavily in their live sets today.

It was after the release of ‘Serpentine’ and the subsequent tours that tensions in the band came to a head. It became clear that vocalist Stefanie was increasingly unhappy with the heavy touring schedule – she preferred to keep music as a hobby with her home life a priority, while for the rest of the members the band was their main focus. So Stefanie and Flowing Tears parted ways, leading to a 5-month period of limbo for the band while they auditioned an endless array of replacements. It was important to Flowing Tears that they keep the band’s signature sound of deeper female vocals, rather than change their style to fit someone totally different.

They finally found their match in Helen Vogt, who had been a fan of Flowing Tears and of Stefanie’s vocals since 1998. Even more familiar with the band’s back catalogue than the band themselves, they knew straight away that she would fit, and after the period of limbo they could throw themselves into writing the next album. As a fan of heavier bands, Helen helped propel them into a more extreme direction, very much focussed on live performance, resulting in 2004s ‘Razorbliss’. A vibrant and energetic album it has to be seen performed live to be truly appreciated. Helen’s powerful stage presence, coupled with an obvious enjoyment of the live environment makes the band an un-missable live experience. The introduction of grunt vocals by Helen into their live set signals a more extreme direction yet for their next album. For anyone wishing to give the band a try ‘Razorbliss’ is definitely the album to get.

‘Flowing Tears’ are a band who have changed and evolved over the last ten years, without losing their indefinable sound – they stand out from many of their contemporaries with their brand of guitar driven gothic metal and fantastic live performances – definitely a band on its way to greater success.