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AXETASY
Withering Tides

Dying Victims Productions (2025)
Rating: 7/10

Originating from Germany, a country known for its efficiency and precision, Axetasy are a surprisingly rough sounding combo I’ve been following since their 2021 two-song demo Slicing Dreams.

This is Axetasy’s debut full-length album and the Stuttgart-based outfit have been bestowed a rather muddy production which actually benefits them in order to reach that old school throwback metal atmosphere which I can only assume is intentional. This is a band that could’ve opted for a glossier shine to their steel, although instead they’ve transported me back to 1986 but with occasional drifts into Blind Guardian territory, albeit with a gritty coating of nasty thrash.

Now, the production values may put a few tech purists off, but fuck them, Withering Tides is a rampant and rabid gem sure to not just turn heads but also bang them as ‘Withering Tides Of Space’ zips by with increasing pace due to the scurrying nature of the axe work from Nik “Fetch” Mangold and Johnny “Amon” Kröner. The latter’s vocal display is as raw and as angry as 1984 but with a blackened snap.

A dizzying affair indeed, Withering Tides explodes and maintains its high levels of electricity to the point of spontaneous combustion as wild leads worm through wiry, but not over complicated, networks of dashing speed metal. For me, ‘Fatal Maze’ epitomises the sound of Axetasy; a whirling dervish of a track that boasts an icy fretwork spine that is the musical equivalent of being wired up to an electric chair but made to stay alive while those trying volts sear through the body.

As I said before, it’s not like some neo-classical brain shredder, but the chords most certainly do shift through the frenetic thrashing plateaus, and yet the emphasis is on a retro speed metal pattern. There are even moments where the guitars adopt a black metal frostiness, such as on the aforementioned ‘Fatal Maze’.

I honestly don’t think there’s a track on offer here that lowers its pace levels. Sure, there are traditional metal moments which squirm through the heat (‘Beyond All Order’), but the spitting thrash is maintained throughout with a standout moment being the hyper ‘Slicing Dreams’ where drummer Chris Kröner is a literal machine in his unflinching displays of mayhem. Another blitzkrieg of an offering is the brief ‘Deadly Witch’ and subsequent fizz of ‘Axetasy (Of Murder)’. The sprinting guitar work both mesmerises and batters, leaving the audience in somewhat of a daze.

There are moments here when the combo blazes like a hyper Helloween and numerous other 80s Euro speedsters, but the extra scowling beefiness of the vocals and wafts of progressive metal means that songs like ‘Voidcrawler’ and ‘Nebulous Nightmares’ require several visits to appreciate it.

Indeed, upon first listen Withering Tides seems at times chaotic and, dare I say it, limited in appeal due to too many similarly designed cuts. However, delve deeper and with patience you’ll grow to enjoy the anomaly that is Axetasy who do indeed prove that there is still a need for speed, although a bit more variety wouldn’t have gone amiss.

Neil Arnold

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