Rating: 7.8

Country: Spain

Release Date: 2005

Track list:
1. Intro
2. Extreme Body Modification
3. Dancing Upon The Thin Line of Insanity [mp3]
4. Entangled In Hate
5. A Thorn In The Forehead of God
6. Woven In The Book of Hate
7. Self Inflicted Wounds
8. Circles of Eternal Return + Bonus Track

Band Website: Scent of Death

Scent of Death - Woven In The Book of Hate

Alfred Berengena - Drums
Carlos F. Carballo - Bass
Bernardo Estevez - Guitar
Jorge Fernandez - Guitar
Lois - Vocals

Scent of Death, not to be confused with Scent of Flesh or any other scent, is from Spain and play not goregrind but dark semi-technical death metal. It's much more interesting than what your brain tells you about that description, trust mine. These guys emulate bands no self-respecting metalhead could claim to dislike, bands such as Morbid Angel (newbies fuck off) and Immolation. I'll give you some space to contemplate over that.

It's not done cheaply either, if you're still referring to your stupid brain. Scent of Death easily surpasses recent efforts of bands like Throne of Nails and Nefas that carry influences of those bands. And instead of attempting to sound like outright boring clones, they pick and use their influences rather selectively in their long, narrative songs. When you consider the Morbid Angel influences, think if you must of their ‘Formulas Fatal To The Flesh' album and of their newer more efficient disciples Behemoth (“Extreme Body Modification”) and Mithras (“Entangled In Hate”). Before you begin to consider anything else they'll sweep you off your feet with their technicality that is akin to bands like Necrophagist, Gorgasm, Severed Saviour and Spawn of Possession, also taking some help of their brutality to do that. Now this is something I wasn't prepared for. I had attuned my ears for music that's dark and heavy. Hell, even the production implies just that but they go ahead and play techy stuff anyway, making it seem like sumo wrestlers doing acrobats.

After you wrench your ears and get back on your feet, you are given a special Immolation treatment mainly from their ‘Close To A World Below' album, “A Thorn In The Forehead of God” being a perfect example of that. During this treatment I could also sense light touches from 'From Wisdom To Hate' era Gorguts that tickled me. What could be regarded as the highlight of this album are the typical Immolation style leads inspired from their ‘Here In After' album like on “Woven In The Book of Hate”. I wish they play them more often because it adds so much life and feel to this album that can get insipid at times. If the music doesn't do enough to remind you of Immolation, the vocalist with his Ross Dolan impersonation makes sure you do. However while doing so, they sometimes get so low that they drag. Post treatment, you are surprised with a Morbid Angel cover of the song “Day of Suffering” done rather sluggishly, but it's still decent and it happens to be one of my favourite Morbid Angel songs.

‘Woven In The Book of Hate' is an ambitious album that will excite fans of the abovementioned bands. There is still some scope for improvement but this is only their first full-length album (they've released only an mcd before that). My nostrils flare up in anticipation of their next one.

March 21th, 2006