Just in case you haven’t heard yet: DEW-SCENTED are back again with a new album. For some people these news are enough information right now to reach out and get this album. Just in case you haven’t heard about them yet: DEW-SCENTED is a Thrash Metal band from Northern Germany, who originally started 20 years ago in the middle of nowhere and relocated to Braunschweig (which isn’t much far away from that middle of nowhere) for a few years now. Despite all the line up-changes during their history, leaving singer Leif Jensen as the only constant member, they continously released albums and played live whenever they had the chance to. This lead to DEW-SCENTED’s good reputation in the Metal scene, much helped by the fact that Leif still is the nice and handsome guy I first met ages ago, I think. Now he’s back with "Icarus", the ninth album in the history of DEW-SCENTED, and a once again completely renewed line-up featuring three Dutch guys, who have been (or still are) active in bands like SEVERE TORTURE, SINISTER, I CHAOS or AFTER FOREVER. But all those changing in the staff never changed the course DEW-SCENTED are steering- which means Thrash Metal, neither anachronistic nor too old school, always just a few steps away from Death Metal and never too far away from SLAYER. And, most important, they always bring us good to very good albums with "Icarus" being one of their best. Starting off with a short instrumental track called ‘Hubris’, the first song ‘Sworn To Obey’ kicks ass, the fast way. Next we have ‘Thrown To The Lions’, which reminds me a little bit of Hardcore legends SICK OF IT ALL in the shout-along chorus. After ‘Storm Within’, with its Bay Area styled guitar harmonies, we have the first surprising guest: Rob Urbinati of Canadian Thrash legends SACRIFICE steps in as Leif’s partner in vocal-crime on the up-tempo Thrasher ‘Gleaming Like Silver’. And Rob is not the only guest on the album. After the solid Thrashers ‘By My Own Hand’ and ‘Fall Of Man’ (fine lead guitars by guest musician Dennis Schneider), Mr. Dan Swanö himself shares vocals with Leif on ‘Reawakening’. And it’s not just the guest vocalist who makes this song my personal highlight of the album – it’s the great riffing and the slight Death Metal feeling it delivers! ‘Destined To Collapse’ starts off with distinct SLAYER vibes before it starts to thrash like hell. The midtempo-smasher ‘A Final Procession’ satisfies with great guitar harmonies, before ‘Perpetuated’ closes a fine album. In addition a great sound is the icing of the cake, once more forged by Jörg Uken in the famous Soundlodge Studios (like the latest SINISTER offering). If you haven’t checked out DEW-SCENTED yet, "Icarus" is definitely not the worst choice to do so, if you like them, you might have already got the album. Check the band sites: www.dew-scented.de or www.facebook.com/dewscented. Or go to the label sites: www.metalblade.com (Europe) or www.prostheticrecords.com (North America)