DEW-SCENTED – Inwards [Remastered]

Three years after their last release, Ill-Natured, Dew-Scented upgraded their name in the Metal world by extensively touring. That was the main reason why the German giant label, Nuclear Blast Records, were very interested in their local act and signed Dew-Scented with the release of the band’s fourth album:  Inwards. Probably what made Inwards so special, in comparison to their previous albums, is the fact that the band’s only guitarist at that time, Florian Muller, entirely wrote all of the riffs. With his musical modus and wild stamina, Inwards is one of Dew-Scented’s paramount albums. In that period of time, Inwards was Dew-Scented’s best work. During the Inwards phase, the changes that went over the band, whether they tuned up to modern Thrash or whether it was the amazing production by Andy Classen, had the band pointed in a direction promising for a fine future.

Unlike the band’s past albums, this album shows that Dew-Scented didn’t attempt to make any slow moves as energy was vastly spilled. Inwards presents Dew-Scented as a modern Thrash company that had focused its music on aggressive speed. That is why these guys, who once were more affiliated with Death, came closer to being a new, modern, yet extreme, version of Slayer. Muller’s unforgiving rhythms and enticing finishing will take you back to albums such as Seasons In The Abyss, Divine Intervention, and other Slayer albums after 1990. You can say that Muller’s style, from Inwards and on, defined Dew-Scented’s Metal for the rest of the way, and even after he departed from the band six years later. However, as for Inwards, it was Muller’s first full scale project, so it can be expected that not everything will be perfect. Besides the issue of being repetitive in various moments, and not being based on modest structures enough, the solos took a turn towards the uncreative.

Although there were shortcomings, you have to give it up for Florian Muller, as he was a major element of what Inwards became in the end. With a great collaboration between his Thrashy manner and the improved outline of the monstrous Leif Jensen and the rest of the guys, Dew-Scented created several of tracks that should be burned into one’s head. Such tracks such as “Bitter Conflict” & “Unconditional” that started a new era for the band with a massive strike, and “Inwards” & “Degeneration” come as the most extreme constructive tracks, and “Blueprints Of Hate” & “Feeling Not” are Thrashy German headbangers with no mercy. As for bonus material, Metal Mind Productions offered a cover version of Dew-Scented to the legendary track “War Ensemble” by Slayer. Overall, Metal Mind Productions did well on the remastering of this album and for choosing to highlight an underrated band.

Tracklist

1. Bitter Conflict
2. Unconditional
3. Life Ending Path
4. Inwards
5. Blueprints Of Hate
6. Locked In Motion
7. Degeneration
8. Terminal Mindstrip
9. Feeling Not
10. Reprisal
11. War Ensemble (Slayer Cover)

Lineup – Inwards

Leif Jensen – Vocals
Florian Muller – Guitars
Patrick Heims – Bass
Uwe Werning – Drums