Dew-Scented – Intermination (Review)

Dew-Scented are a German Thrash Metal band and this is their tenth album.

I hadn’t heard anything from Dew-Scented since their 2002 album Inwards, which was a good album to Thrash along to. As such, I was keen to catch up with them 13 years later.

13 years. Blimey.

Anyhoo, in the interim it seems that little has changed in the grand scheme of things. Dew-Scented still offer high-octane, spiky Thrash Metal and once again I’m more than happy to lap it up.

With a crisp, heavy production, the band tear through 55 minutes of chunky, aggressive Thrash, (including covers of Solstice and Repulsion songs).

This is a very riff-centred album. The songs are collections of hungry Thrash riffs, artfully threaded together into paeans to Metal. Ripping Thrash is the bedrock of their sound, but more emotive guitars provide some depth where needed. The band use melodies to their benefit; frequently subtle affairs, they’re used to enhance the feelings of a particular passage or section.

Guitar solos are plentiful on Intermination and I always love a good solo. This is a very guitar-oriented album and the songs just satisfy.

The vocals sound better than ever. The singer’s voice is aggressive and brutal, barking out the lyrics with angry abandon.

It’s good to hear Dew-Scented again. It also reminds me of why I enjoyed Inwards so much. I’d say that on Intermination they have tightened everything up; the added experience they’ve notched up over the years means that this is a highly focused album from a band that know themselves very well.

As heavy, aggressive Thrash Metal goes, this is definitely a winner.