"In the end, that's what I think we are - a live band that records albums."

Leif Jensen, vocalist of the German thrash metal quintet Dew-Scented, presents his band's brand-new, seventh studio album. Its title - "Incinerate" - starts with an "i", as always when it comes to Dew-Scented's recordings ("Immortelle" [1996], "Innoscent" [1998], "Ill-Natured" [1999], "Inwards" [2002], "Impact" [2003] and "Issue VI" [2005])...

Vassil Varbanov: Hey, Leif, how are you?

Leif Jensen: Actually very, very well, thank you! We're having a new album coming out and we're definitely looking forward to people to hear it.

V. V.: It's been two years since your previous record, "Issue VI". What happened to you guys during this period of time?

L. J.: A lot. We did "Issue VI" and we embarked on the most ambitious tour we've ever had with Dew-Scented. We went to Japan directly after the release of our latest CD, where we did a tour with High on Fire. Then we did a European tour supporting Nevermore, and then we went to North America for a month of touring with Vader. Afterwards we returned to Europe and did a lot of headlining shows, then we supported Cryptopsy and Grave, we started writing songs, played some festivals, entered the studio, recorded the new album, came out of the studio, did some shows with Trivium in Germany, and here we are, awaiting the release of "Incinerate".

V. V.: So it's been mainly playing live, live, live...

L. J.: Yeah, that's the best method to transport the message of our music. In the end, that's what I think we are - a live band that records albums.

V. V.: Tell us please, is it Andy Sneap that helped you the most for doing the sound on "Incinerate"?

L. J.: Obviously, he does a very significant sound - he's like the cutting edge modern guy out there, who has a lot of qualities. There are so many bands recording with him at the moment... Anyway, I think the whole working process is responsible for the sound we achieved. We didn't record the album in the same studio where we did the last one, we changed our attitude, Andy Sneap mixed and mastered the songs - all these things let the material shine through in a brighter way than before.

V. V.: There's a huge variety of guest musicians on "Incinerate" - Jeff Waters of Annihilator, Gus G. of Firewind, Mille Petrozza of Kreator... Do you think the album itself is as diverse as the guests on it?

L. J.: I don't think the album is diverse. We're trying to go for some experimentation within our thrash metal style. OnВ  "Incinerate" we're more direct, aggressive and catchy than on "Issue VI", so at the end of the day we just wanted to invite some friends of ours to play on the CD and add something to our sound. Gus and Jeff are two of the most unique and original guitar players out there, and so is Mille - one of the biggest influences for our band since the very beginning. However, to be honest, I don't think these three guys changed a lot of the sound - they have made something special and interesting, but it didn't really have a big influence on our sound or the way we wrote and recorded the album.

V. V.: Having in mind that Mille Petrozza is a very down to earth type of person, and mentioning that you've toured Germany with Trivium, how would you compare them? Righ now Trivium are on the cover of every fuckin' metal magazine in the world, so do you think they're still down to earth?

L. J.: Well, I hope so. They are down to earth, at least to us. They invited us to play with them, which is kind of nice, because when they first came to Europe years ago, they played their first two shows here ever with us, Dew-Scented, so we know each other from a long way back, when nobody knew them. I have full respect for them, because they work very, very hard for achieving this success. I really like those guys.

V. V.: So what comes after the release of "Incinerate"? Massive touring again?

L. J.: I hope so! We'd like to play the songs from the album to as many people as possible. The tour starts around the release date, in late March. We'll do some shows together with Napalm Death, Moonspell and Behemoth, but unfortunately we won't be coming to your area with this package. However, we'll do another couple of weeks of touring in June with Misery Index, and then we'll hopefully visit some new places that we won't go to during the first tour. We're definitely ready to tour the shit out of this album!

Copyright: Tangra Mega Rock