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By JEFF MAKI
German thrashing-death metallers Dew-Scented rip through a ferocious blend of blastbeats, Pantera-style guitar grooves and refuse to concede to anything but sheer brutality on their seventh release, Incinerate.
The material that makes up Incinerate is not so original, but it hits you like a fucking battering ram. After a downtuned intro, the band erupts with guitar riffs alternating through speaker channels on the death metal anthem “Vanish Away.” The band uses this trick more than a few times. Vocalist Leif Jensen has a tormented scream, an '80s Bay Area thrash metal style. He rarely strays from this one-dimensional pattern, but it fits the manic nature of the music. “That's Why I Despise You” is the album's standout track, with Jensen's vengeful lyrics backed by gargantuan riffs and rhythm. On “Perdition for All,” the rhythm section is straight off of Far Beyond Driven. The guitar soloing is prominent here, as it is throughout the entire album. It just so happens that this song features guest guitarists Jeff Waters of Annihilator and Gus G. of Firewind. Kreator's Mille Petrozza lends his vocal abilities to “Retain the Scars,” creating a most deadly combination, one that would have given the album more variety if it could have been featured more. This album has a breakneck pace, pauses for no bullshit and does what it is meant to do: destroy.
Incinerate is not a groundbreaker, nor is it a nominee for 2007 metal album of the year. What it is, however, is several familiar heavy sounds fused into an all-out metal attack. This album should appeal to a wide fanbase, given its well executed meshing of thrash and other forms of extreme metal.
For fans of Pantera, Machine Head, Morbid Angel, Deicide, Entombed, Overkill, Testament, Vader.
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