Review by Felix on August 22, 2019.

Don't ask me why, but I always ignored Dew-Scented, even though I knew that they make music that I like. I just did not have enough time. Roughly 1865 great bands, but only one Felix. This mismatch could not remain without consequences. So now it's time for active repentance. Inwards, the full-length from 2002, is a mind-blowing demonstration of permanent power, well-controlled brutality and violent euphoria. The music does not only illustrate the strength of the combination of thrash and death metal. It also makes clear that a seemingly one-dimensional approach does not exclude dynamic and liveliness. The Germans avoid monotony, and this alone separates them from many competitors who are seeking salvation in pure or somehow combined death metal.

Who should lend an ear to an album that was released 17 years ago, in particular in view of the fact that its creators are no longer active under the then used name? Well, first things first, Inwards has a timeless production. Producer Andy Classen, formerly known as the husband of Holy Moses' Sabina, has forged this wall of sound that overcomes any form of resistance. The album sounds voluminous, tight, aggressive, direct and dense. Honestly, this is exactly the sound this kind of music needs - and I forgot to mention that the vocals on the one hand and the instrumentation on the other hand are well-balanced. In terms of the musical content, this album leads Dismember and Slayer to the altar in order to marry and give birth to many ugly children that hail this kind of music. Dew-Scented are no typical Teutonic band, they sound very international without losing their identity. Due to the technical competences and the effectiveness of the riffs, the band is not at risk to fail in terms of individuality. The guys also understand to present their mostly very fast-paced songs with a homogeneous flow and so there are enough features that shape the specific characters of their music, even though the raw and slightly inflexible voice of the lead singer does not add a special note. 

It's hardly possible to identify highlights. Imagine that ten cannons fire at ten houses, you see the ruins and then you are forced to say which house has the biggest damage. In other words, jagged and sharp-edged riffs show up constantly during the entire playtime, the drummer sees no sense in stopping his violent activities - blast beats not excluded - and the whole unit enjoys its remarkable compactness. Maybe this abruptly starting massacre is five minutes too long, but maybe it is rather true that I become too old for this kind of merciless murder. Both is possible - even at the same time. However, if I try to make a difference between the single cannon shots, it might be that "Bitter Conflict", the title track and "Terminal Mindstrip" stand out. Yet it also can be that tomorrow I prefer three different tracks, because there are absolutely no fillers. Anyway, one thing cannot be denied: Dew-Scented avoid melodies without any kind of negative consequences, because the riffs do the talking and they do it nearly always in a brilliant manner. Bottom line, young metalheads should look out for this and further albums of the band. Too bad that the guys, who always chose a title beginning with the letter I, never dedicated an album to me. "Ignoramus" would have been a suitable name.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Review by Tobias on December 31, 2001.

Whether or not it was an obscure allusion to the writing of Edgar Allen Poe, I was a little tentative and perhaps suspicious of a band that would don a moniker that sounds like a new line of perfume by Lysol. But this album doesn’t deliver visions of pretty girls on piers or a fresh clean smell on your kitchen floor. This is total destruction.

Inwards is a powerhouse of an album, shredding the bloody hell out of everything in earshot. Floryan Muller’s riffing sets up an audio phalanx of rolling thrash energy that simply devours. Unfortunately, the guitars do falter a little when it comes to the solos and even then the problem is mostly the mixing. The occasional squeal comes through fine, but when it comes to laying down a second guitar track to add in a solo, that could use a little growth, the mixing promotes it so much that it all feels unnatural. But this doesn’t occur too often and is heavily overshadowed by the speed-riffing onslaught.

The vocals of Leffe Jensen are rooted in both the world of thrash-metal and that of death. Overall it is a very intense performance and not one track seems to out do another in this area. Whether that’s a good thing depends strongly on the listener’s need (or lack thereof) for eclecticism in metal performances.

The rhythm section is strong and fancy-free, which leaves a little to be desired, but is nonetheless a fierce and potent engine behind this weapon of devastation.

I feel that the worst enemy of this album is the production, primarily the sound mixing. Dew-Scented has the strength and potential to be the biggest and baddest of the thrash arena and they deserve a talented and meticulous production.

Bottom Line: It would be healthy for Slayer to start getting paranoid about the smell of grass in the morning.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 7
Atmosphere: 9
Production: 5
Originality: 7
Overall: 8

Rating: 7.2 of 10

Review by Jeger on August 11, 2024.

Long before Nergal became the champion of Polish liberation from Catholicism and a gambler with his freedom, his band Behemoth began much like every other black metal band; with some shoddy recording, some remedial guitar riffing, and more than just an affinity for Satan. Their early recordings? Not “The Satanist”, not brutal nor refined, and not larger-than-life like we’ve come to expect over the decades, just genuine black metal a la Darkthrone, Mayhem, and Marduk. And into dreaming forests of ancient times we venture now under blood moon and beneath His austere gaze - spellbound by the chilling yowl of great daemons through the solstice gale and wolves running the hunt. True black metal done the Polish way. In 1995, the now intergalactic Behemoth released a very humble piece of BM gold in their And The Forests Dream Eternally EP, unveiled via Entropy Productions. 

I have the attention span of a four-year-old, so I dig EPs and not the bullshit ones that feature a cover, a live track, and some B-side deep cut that no one gives a shit about. “And the Forests Dream Eternally” followed Behemoth’s debut LP, and what an unsung triumph for second-wave black metal. Through the myst of intoxicatingly melodic passages are propelled upon finesse beats and crisp splashes of the cymbal. Scarce are blast-beats and no tremolo riffs, only rolling Dissection-like melodic progressions that unfold to the same kind of Ole Öhman-esque disciplined cadences - the glue and the foundation to the filth but also to the majestic as the highly visual “Transylvanian Forest” opens up the experience to the sound of vultures mingling as they tear through their prized carrion just before the dry buzz and the basement stink of crusty Polish BM ensues. A brilliant alternation between black & roll grime and rich melodicism. Nowhere to be found is anything that actually sounds like today’s Behemoth. 

I would’ve guessed Finland. Sounds like a cross between the misanthropic melancholy of Sargeist and the sonic warmongering of one Satanic Warmaster. Naturally, this EP could’ve served as an inspiration to said projects, as it most certainly has for countless others, and as bands like Funeral Winds and even Sacramentum come to mind during the enrapturing “Moonspell Rites”, it’s to Nergal’s wraith-like growl - a beautiful contrast to the brutishness of his current style. The mystery behind the great transition between this undisputed BM reign and what this band eventually became is one that both frustrates and tantalizes. Frustrating to the black metal warrior but a vast leap forward for the blackened death monger. I definitely fall into the former category. Why Behemoth steered away from the heartfelt and downright stunning nature of such blessed black metal and into the realm of aggressive brutalism is beyond me. They were onto something here and was it ever glorious. Behemoth have explored more soulful tones, particularly through their polarizing “I Loved You At Your Darkest” LP, but never again through the most precious dark art of black metal. 

A comprehensive recording that sees the band venturing into the realm of Venom worship during “Pure Evil and Hate” and into the dreamlike sphere of melodic BM as so strikingly lain out during the closing track, “Forgotten Empire of Dark WItchcraft” - like a “Storm of the Light’s Bane” deep cut that strikes up those olde familiar images of beguiled angels lying frozen in Winter’s frigid bounty; black metal for the Witch as she enchants The Devil before her with ancestral spells of ancient days forlorn. And the music: a blackened feast of grime, melody, epic, occult, and misanthropy - A little BM 101 as professed by black metal’s own wayward son. 

An international powerhouse of blackened metal has Behemoth become since the turn of the millennium, and the music is only secondary to the great blasphemous works of one Adam “Nergal” Darski - the one who challenges and who condemns Christian totalitarianism over Poland, all the while as he creates some of the world’s most influential blackened death metal. “And the Forests Dream Eternally” has aged as beautifully as Thunderbolt’s “Black Clouds Over Dark Majesty” and speaks to a time before revolution when under the Black Mark did Adam staked his claim. Simpler days, simpler music, but Behemoth would prove to be something a little too, well, behemoth for black metal. So, on they’ve stormed the blackened horizons; challenging divinity and trampling Christendom under their boots. I generally despise blackened death metal, so I’ll just pump the brakes right here and leave this little gem at your disposal. To dream eternally! And to the forests… A solitary chair there sits, one that signifies the spot once held by Behemoth in what was their briefly sanctioned, undisputed place within the world of Polish black metal…

Rating: 9.5/10