Author: Rok Klemše
Artist: Dew-Scented
Label: Nuclear Blast
Released: 2007
If anyone’s passionate about what they do, it’s without a shadow of a doubt the German thrash/death metal champions Dew-Scented. They put their passion for the music they play into the consistent quality of their records, which they kept ramping up all the way to the 2005 album Issue VI. It’s no different on their latest, Incinerate, which keeps up their tradition of naming albums with a single word starting with the letter I.
Incinerate brings nothing new to the table. Dew Scented simply stay true to themselves and their sound, and they’re not reinventing the wheel. Why fix something that’s working at full throttle!? Incinerate delivers waves of supersonic riffs and brutal blast beats. Returning member Florian Müller got used to the band’s brutal pace in no time, and together with Hendrik Bache he already makes up a killer guitar duo, serving up creative solos and thrashy riffs.
Leif’s vocals are intense, brutal and aggressive, with plenty of color, ranging all the way from high-pitched screams to deep death metal growls. The whole lineup is technically at a very high level, and yet something’s missing from the record. Like its predecessors, Incinerate is a solid, even excellent record, but it lacks tracks you’d actually remember. Fine, Incinerate isn’t the most original thing out there, but it hits like a battering ram against the gates of a medieval castle. Uncompromising!
The producer’s chair this time was taken by the brilliant Andy Sneap (Nevermore, Machine Head, Arch Enemy, Testament, Kreator). When a name like Andy Sneap is in play, every word about the production is pretty much pointless… we all know what Andy is capable of.
After a short intro, Dew-Scented chase us down like a rabid Rottweiler after a mailman and trap us in a cage of fast and furious metal destruction for three quarters of an hour. Incinerate doesn’t let you breathe: it lights the fuse on half a ton of plastic explosive and then pours gasoline on the fire for good measure. Dew-Scented know no pauses, no quiet parts, and no compromises with the trends of today’s “metal”. If they ease off the tempo for a few moments, they don’t stay there long, because they hit the gas in a heartbeat and leave behind the smell of burning rubber and a little puff of smoke.
Walking the thin line between thrash and death metal are the thrash/death anthem Vanish Away, then Aftermath and the fantastic killer That’s Why I Despise You. On Perdition For All the band are joined by guitar masters Jeff Waters (Annihilator) and Gus G (Firewind), who show what a lesson in soloing looks like. On the “Kreator-esque” Retain the Scars, the legendary Mille Petrozza (Kreator) lends his voice. I couldn’t have imagined a better way to close out the record. There’s no deeper philosophy behind the songs… Every track is a blow to the head with a club that leaves you lying in a puddle of your own blood… until the next one comes along and repeats the process!
Incinerate isn’t a record that will change metal and lay new foundations for the genre. But what it sets out to do, it pulls off in the best possible light.
Lineup
Leif Jensen – vocals
Florian Müller – guitar
Hendrik Bache – guitar
Alexander Pahl – bass
Uwe Werning – drums
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Jeff Waters – guitar
Gus G – guitar
Mille Petrozza – vocals
Production
Andy Sneap
Tracklist
1. Exordium (Intro) 00:56
2. Vanish Away 03:41
3. Final Warning 03:08
4. That’s Why I Despise You 03:08
5. The Fraud 02:59
6. Into The Arms Of Misery 04:04
7. Perdition For All 03:59
8. Now Or Never 04:48
9. Aftermath 02:57
10. Everything Undone 03:56
11. Contraddictions 03:18
12. Retain The Scars 05:01
13. Exitus (Outro) 02:00
