Vader Dew Scented Tour Review

Dew-Scented Tour
Review

Blitzkrieg 3 - North American Tournee
Vader
Decapitated
Dew-Scented
Joe's on Weed St.
11/9/05
Reviewer: Karma E. Omowale
Photos: Erika Kristen Watt

Dew-Scented Left Joe’s on Weed Street Ablaze

Final assessment Joe’s Sports Bar and Grill on Weed Street in Chicago was left in a wake of ashes from tonight’s scorching acts. I always find it interesting to see a band play during the first quadrant of a touring schedule. Seeing how it could be considered bad timing since the band has yet to get into their groove, however no one can stop raw talent, as was best displayed tonight by one of Germany’s finest offerings Dew-Scented. The band will share a plethora of North American stages with their fellow eastern blockers respective Polish metal masters Vader and Decapitated.

The openers Dew-Scented and Decapitated would play to a partially filled venue, however in true Chicago fashion bodies filled the room before the headliner Vader took the stage. However, what these late comers never fail to realize what they have missed, case in point, Dew-Scented was more explosive and brutal than an eruption from Mt. St. Helens in which we were in desperate need of heat was to warm our chilled bones from the unseasonably chilly winter air.

Never have I laid witness to such a fiendish volatile ball of emotion otherwise known as Dew-Scented’s performance this evening. Vocalist, Leif Jensen and his troop captivated the audience from the very beginning. The band was more than excited to be on stage. You could see the excitement in Jensen’s eyes as the authoritative frontman addressed his followers after “Bitter Conflict”, “We’re Dew-Scented from Germany! This is our first time here!!” The this tour marks their first bicoastal jaunt through North America. Leif had this to say in my interview with him, “We've been waiting for this chance for quite awhile, we've been here for festivals only so far. It's our first coast-to-coast tour, so we're really, really excited!” During the same dissertation, he bellowed, “This is your show!” Encouraging the crowd to mosh, and that they did during “New Found Pain”

Before “Turn To Ash” commenced, Leif joked with audience, “Nuclear Blast must have a clause in their contracts that all bands must do synchronized headbanging” I concur, labelmates Bleed The Sky do this as well. However, Dew-Scented is a skosh more old school with their coordinated headbanging. Leif said at the conclusion of the song how happy they were to be on tour with their friends Decapitated and Vader and how they had toured in the past with them in Europe.

Speaking of pain, a little earlier the moshers started to take the song a little too literally. The pit was a smidgen too soupēon for the band’s liking. Jensen literally ceased the band from playing so that he could straighten out the situation. He demanded the offenders to stop acting like assholes asking them to “move out of the way because we were all here to have a good time!” You had better believe the overzealous moshers did as their unassailable leader commanded! They did their dancing in a controlled manner for that moment on. It was best display of controlling aggression ever witnessed. His take on the situation was, in order for us to keep the set enjoyable for us and for everybody else it just felt necessary to give [the moshing] a little bit of a break. I've seen it get ugly, but we do not encourage people to get brutal”. Guess the reputation of the band’s audiences getting brutal precedes them; again, it’s a beauteous thing for the commanding leader of the pack to be able to squelch any potential problems before they get out of hand! To further establish his incredulous dominance, during “Soul Poison”, Jensen welcomed the grouping of people in the back of the room towards the front by the stage, “We have a lot of space up here!”, that seemingly worked like a charm, the assemblage of wallflowers moved towards the front.

There were some special guests in the audience this evening, Maurizio Iacono, vocalist of Kataklysm came out to see his fellow labelmates this evening.

The band’s performance was searing. Guitarists Hendrik Bache and [recent addition to the band replacing longtime member Florian Műeller] Marvin Vriedsde twin attack was wicked. The vicious bass lines that Alexander Pahl supplied were sublime. Drummer Uwe Werning cool style of playing was rousing. He makes his job seem quite effortless; however, it remains unexplainable how he is able to accomplish such a feat resulting in crashing cymbals and an intense showing. Seeing a Dew-Scented show is like attending confession, somehow they are able to extract and purge the evils within by the end of the performance. You feel renewed, left with the insatiable sensation of being able move forward, “Skybound”. Whenever this band makes it back to the States or to your call of port, make sure to see them. I am sure they will leave you as winded as they did their Chicago audience.

Setlist: Bitter Conflict, New Found Pain, Turn to Ash, Cities of the Dead, Soul Poison, Never to Return, Acts of Rage.

Click here for interview with Leif Jensen

Lineup: Leif Jensen - Vocals; Hendrik Bache - Guitar; Alexander Pahl - Bass; Uwe Werning - Drums; Marvin Vriesde - Guitar

Leif Jensen of Dew-Scented (Photo: Erika Kristen Watt) Hendrik Bache of Dew-Scented (Photo: Erika Kristen Watt) Marvin Vriesde of Dew-Scented (Photo: Erika Kristen Watt) Alexander Pahl of Dew-Scented (Photo: Erika Kristen Watt) Uwe Werning of Dew-Scented (Photo: Erika Kristen Watt) Leif Jensen of Dew-Scented (Photo: Erika Kristen Watt) Hendrik Bache of Dew-Scented (Photo: Erika Kristen Watt) Marvin Vriesde of Dew-Scented (Photo: Erika Kristen Watt) Alexander Pahl of Dew-Scented (Photo: Erika Kristen Watt)

Lineup: Piotr ''Peter'' Wiwczarek - Vocals, Guitar; Maurycy ''Mauser'' Stefanowicz – Guitar; Marcin ''Novy'' Nowak – Bass; Darek ''Daray'' Brzozowski - Drums

Mauser Stefanowicz of Vader (Photo: Erika Kristen Watt) Novy Nowak of Vader (Photo: Erika Kristen Watt) Peter Wiwczarek of Vader (Photo: Erika Kristen Watt)