Hailing from Germany, Dew-Scented are another band who can be found on the long list of Teutonic Thrash. The five piece though do have something to make them stand out more against the others on the list – longevity (despite consistent line up changes) and a touch of death metal to round off their sound. With a trend for naming all their albums something which begins with the letter “I”, “Intermination” is the latest offering from the consistently reliable metal group.
The album begins with the ominously titled “Declaration of Intent” which is a short instrumental track which serves one purpose – to slowly build up the mood and the tension before the real music begins. From track 2 “On A Collision Course” right through to the fifteenth and final track “Radiation Sickness” it is a nonstop assault of powerful groove laden thrash metal with a cutting death metal edge. Raw vocals which sound harsh and full of venom are intensely delivered over a fantastic rhythm section which helps keep the blistering pace of the guitars in check in the faster parts and helps to amplify the power in the slower, more groove orientated sections. It might be simplistic in its approach, but like the principle behind “Ockham’s Razor” i.e. The simplest approach is usually the most likely/effective, Dew-Scented cut right to the heart of the matter and come up with a solid result.
Angry, intense and fast tracks like “Means to an End”, “Demon Seed” and “Power Surge” hit like a speeding freight train whilst “Ruptured Perpetuality” has all the potential in the live setting to actually make you feel like you have just been hit by said train as the intro makes for a perfect set up to the ever popular ‘wall of death’. “Living Lies”, “Reborn” and “Affect Gravity” sacrifice some of the pace for heaviness and provide some terrific thrash based grooves and “Ode to Extinction” has some fantastic lead work with a trade off solo spot and a real crushing heavy groove to cap it.
One complaint about this album is that there is a distinct lack of diversity in the songs. They all sound pretty similar and follow a basic structure with only a few differences to differentiate between them, but despite this, the fact that it is simple and straight to the point mixture of thrash and death metal and it is Teutonic thrash too, you know what you’re getting is going to be solid and powerful.
This is definitely one for the thrash fans or people who like their music angry, intense and fast.
(7/10 Fraggle)
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