MY INNER BURNING – Eleven Scars

Female-fronted Gothic Metal bands aren’t just another fashion any longer. Over the years there’s been a rise in the number of bands in this genre. However, there were too many similarities, and it lowered the overall interest.  The German My Inner Burning are not to be confused with Leaves’ Eyes or Draconian, and from that end, that’s quite an advantage.  Now in spinning their second album in two years, Eleven Scars, the feeling generated doesn’t match the one felt from your typical female-fronted Gothic Metal band.

My Inner Burning is sort of a nice hybrid between Modern Metal and Gothic Metal. Take the simplicity and catchiness of Evanescence, for example, and mix it with the less extreme, yet rather intelligent, form of Paradise Lost, and you got yourself a My Inner Burning release.  On Eleven Scars, as on their previous album, don’t expect too much from the lead guitar line, rather as in the not so distant past, it seemed that the main focuses were on the dramatic vocalist Becky Gaber, who turns out to be a highly rated front-woman, and the catchy choruses. The music itself can’t be recognized as dynamic, yet there were enough moments, especially when the riffages were concerned, when the flow of the material escalated for the better.  If you’re a sucker for modern riffs and low tuning, you’ll probably get a kick out of some of the songs.  The infusion of those tight riffs with energetic rhythm section and Gaber’s strong vocal patterns, backed by a tight and well crafted modern sound production, provided some great outcomes.

Eleven Scars might have turned out energetic in comparison to other Gothic Metal albums, yet it didn’t fire the big guns right from the start. The first four tracks were quite identical to one another; there wasn’t any sort of suspension.  The material was catchy and quite heavy, but no more than that. “When I’m Gone” is a sweet ballad filled with atmosphere and emotions.  The music was mostly soft with several acoustic features, and Gaber’s great singing rhythm loomed over. Almost the same quality was found within a lot of the heavier tracks, such as the closing “Home Sick”, “Done With Denial”, and “Gone Wrong”.  Although solos were almost non-evident, those tracks kick ass with a fine line of bombastic modern riffages and great rhythms.  The rest of the material was rather regular with ups and downs.

My Inner Burning still has to refine their compositions so they won’t sound so similar to one another, and the addition of more depth would be great as well. On Eleven Scars, the overall quality was quite good. The album stepped over the boundaries of usual female-fronted Gothic Metal and is therefore recommended.

Tracklist

1. Masquerade
2. Analize
3. Electrified
4. For The Last Time
5. When I’m Gone
6. Demons
7. Done With Denial
8. Gone Wrong
9. Enemy Of Mine
10. New Breed
11. Home Sick

Lineup

Becky Gaber – Vocals
Deibl – Guitars
Torsten Sauerbrey – Guitars
Nik – Bass
Cliff – Drums