DEW-SCENTED – Incinerate (Remastered)

The Incinerate album was a sign of change for Dew-Scented, both for the better and for the worse. In the band’s view, the change of the production setting was for the better. Once working with Andy Classen who did rather great work on their previous three albums, on Incinerate it was Jorg Uken at the recording and mixing … mastering by Andy Sneap. Furthermore, the album paved the road for the participation of famous guests such as guitarists Jeff Waters (Annihilator), Gus. G (Firewind, Ozzy), and vocalist / guitarist Mille Petroza (Kreator). For the worse, Incinerate was a hard blow for Dew-Scented as it was marked as the last official stretch for three of the band’s key members. This album is the last of the re-mastering work by Metal Mind Productions for this German band after reissuing all of their albums (not including their current Invocation).

The returning collaboration between the two axmen, Florian Muller & Hendrik Bache, turned out to be fruitful compared to the outcome of the previous Issue IV. Even though the latter was complex, Incinerate introduced a far better selection of riffs based on Slayer-ish palm muted hitters and full-throttle morbid Death Metal trills under a cover of grind drumming. Besides the riffs, the modernized version feel was that Dew-Scented became even more extreme as Death Metal became their primal weapon in comparison to the past few albums. However, with the written selection of riffs, Dew-Scented still had the same issue as before by overusing some of their riffages time and time again. That factor didn’t help their rating. As for the lead guitar sections, the return of Muller to the line-up intensified the need for the solos and that need was fulfilled. The majority of those screamers were Hanneman-ized (meaning influenced by the lead guitarist of Slayer) to the extent of something close to being a mimic version of old and current Slayer solos. Moreover, some of those solos sounded illiterate and more like scale exercises than true artistic soloing. That same issue was evident on some of Slayer’s solos as well.

In terms of production, it was hard to understand what was the sudden reason for a change. Leif Jensen, the band’s vocalist, said that they wanted something fresh. Well, they indeed got a different perspective; however, judging by this production, they would have been better off with Andy Classen. Although the work of Andy Sneap on the guitar section was great, the works on blending the vocals and snare were disappointing. The vocals are way behind the guitars and the snare on several areas is almost inaudible. This was not something that was expected out of a producer like Sneap who in that same year did a great job for Exodus. This album proved that Andy Classen was the best-suited producer, as he once provided great service for Dew-Scented.

Metal Mind Productions added three additional bonus tracks, which were taken from various versions of the album. Tracks such as the nice “Let it Die”, which wasn’t inserted into the original set list, a remake of the 1996’s “In Flames” that was pretty good, and a great cover of the old Bad Religion song “Fuck Armageddon … This Is Hell”. In addition, the video of the track “That’s Why I Despise You”, which is displayed in a fine HD quality, was added as well.

Incinerate, with all its new features and changes, couldn’t match the band’s greatest album Impact. It was sad to know that after all this time Incinerate was set as Dew-Scented’s darkest hour with the leaving of Florian Muller, Hendrik Bache, and Uwe Werning a year after its release. All had their reasons for leaving, but those didn’t cut the life out of this German machine … it still lives and breathes tough Metal.

Tracklist

1. Exordium [Intro]
2. Vanish Away
3. Final Warning
4. That’s Why I Despise You
5. The Fraud
6. Into The Arms Of Misery
7. Perdition For All
8. Now Or Never
9. Aftermath
10. Everything Undone
11. Contraddictions
12. Retain The Scars
13. Exitus [Outro]
14. Let It Die
15. In Flames
16. Fuck Armageddon…This Is Hell (Bad Religion cover)

Lineup

Leif Jensen – Vocals
Florian Muller – Guitars
Hendrik Bache – Guitars
Alexander Pahl – Bass
Uwe Werning – Drums