Flowing Tears

Flowing Tears was a German gothic metal band. Their original band name was Flowing Tears & Withered Flowers, which they used for their first several releases.

History

The band formed in 1994 under the moniker Flowing Tears & Withered Flowers. Under the first name, they released a demo called Bijou in 1995, two full-length albums: Swansongs in 1996 and Joy Parade in 1998, and an EP named Swallow in 1999.^[1] On Swansongs, Manfred Bersin contributed the male vocals. After the EP's release, the band abridged their name to "Flowing Tears".

With the release of Serpentine in 2002, the band would build on the work they did with Jade, adding a slightly more up tempo and a less melancholy sound. After the release of Serpentine, Stefanie Duchêne left the band for personal reasons. The replacement vocalist became Helen Vogt,^[2] who still sings with the band. With a sound similar to that of Serpentine, and Vogt's vocal similarities with Stefanie Duchêne's vocals, the band released their 5th studio album, Razorbliss.

The band toured with After Forever in April and May 2004.^[3] On October 20, 2004, just seven months after the release of "Razorbliss," two founding members of Flowing Tears, Björn Lorson and Cristian Zimmer (the first of whom was still in the band's lineup at the time), died in a car accident.^[4]

October 2008 saw the release of Flowing Tears' sixth full-length album, Thy Kingdom Gone. It is a concept album containing 12 songs, along with artwork made by Seth Siro Anton, an artist who has done work for Moonspell, Soilwork, and Paradise Lost.^[5]

The band is on hiatus according to a Facebook status update in January 2013 by Helen Vogt, she expressed that she does wish to record a new album someday.^[6] However, she announced in March 2014 that Thy Kingdom Gone would be the band's final album.^[7]

Members^[8]

Final lineup

• Helen Vogt – Vocals (2004–2014)
• Benjamin Buss – Guitars, programming, keyboards (1994–2014)
• David Vogt – Bass guitar (2007–2014)
• Stefan Gemballa – Drums (2002–2014)

Former members

• Lena Fischer – Keyboards (1994–c. 1995)
• Björn Lorson – Guitar (1994–1995)
• Manfred Bersin – Vocals (1994–1996); Guitar (1996–c. 1999)
• Christian Zimmer – Drums (1994–1997) (deceased)
• Stefanie Duchêne – Vocals (1998–2004)
• Eric Hilt – Drums (1998–2000)
• Mike Voltz – Keyboard (2000)
• Frédéric Lesny – Bass (1996–2007)

Discography

Discography in italics were released while this band were still under the moniker Flowing Tears & Withered Flowers.

Demos

• Bijou (1995)

EPs

• Swallow (1999)

Studio albums

• Swansongs (1996)
• Joy Parade (1998)
• Jade (2000)
• Serpentine (2002)
• Razorbliss (2004)
• Thy Kingdom Gone (2008)

Live albums

• Invanity – Live in Berlin (2007)

References

External links

• Official website
• Official Flowing Tears Myspace
• Flowing Tears @ Encyclopaedia Metallum
• Flowing Tears & Withered Flowers @ Encyclopaedia Metallum
• Flowing Tears @ musicfolio.com