{"id":104442,"date":"2025-01-17T00:00:23","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T00:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=104442"},"modified":"2025-01-29T11:57:30","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T11:57:30","slug":"album-review-axetasy-withering-tides","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-axetasy-withering-tides\/","title":{"rendered":"AXETASY – Withering Tides (2025) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

AXETASY
Withering Tides<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nDying Victims Productions (2025)<\/span>
Rating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Originating from Germany, a country known for its efficiency and precision, Axetasy are a surprisingly rough sounding combo I\u2019ve been following since their 2021 two-song demo Slicing Dreams<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This is Axetasy\u2019s 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\u2019ve opted for a glossier shine to their steel, although instead they\u2019ve transported me back to 1986 but with occasional drifts into Blind Guardian territory, albeit with a gritty coating of nasty thrash.<\/p>\n

Now, the production values may put a few tech purists off, but fuck them, Withering Tides<\/em> is a rampant and rabid gem sure to not just turn heads but also bang them as \u2018Withering Tides Of Space\u2019 zips by with increasing pace due to the scurrying nature of the axe work from Nik \u201cFetch\u201d Mangold and Johnny \u201cAmon\u201d Kr\u00f6ner. The latter\u2019s vocal display is as raw and as angry as 1984 but with a blackened snap.<\/p>\n

A dizzying affair indeed, Withering Tides<\/em> 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, \u2018Fatal Maze\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

As I said before, it\u2019s 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 \u2018Fatal Maze\u2019.<\/p>\n

I honestly don\u2019t think there\u2019s a track on offer here that lowers its pace levels. Sure, there are traditional metal moments which squirm through the heat (\u2018Beyond All Order\u2019), but the spitting thrash is maintained throughout with a standout moment being the hyper \u2018Slicing Dreams\u2019 where drummer Chris Kr\u00f6ner is a literal machine in his unflinching displays of mayhem. Another blitzkrieg of an offering is the brief \u2018Deadly Witch\u2019 and subsequent fizz of \u2018Axetasy (Of Murder)\u2019. The sprinting guitar work both mesmerises and batters, leaving the audience in somewhat of a daze.<\/p>\n

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 \u2018Voidcrawler\u2019 and \u2018Nebulous Nightmares\u2019 require several visits to appreciate it.<\/p>\n

Indeed, upon first listen Withering Tides<\/em> 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\u2019ll 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\u2019t have gone amiss.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AXETASYWithering 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\u2019ve been following since their 2021 two-song demo Slicing Dreams. This is Axetasy\u2019s debut full-length album and the Stuttgart-based outfit have been bestowed a rather muddy production which actually benefits […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,5859],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-axetasy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104442"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104443,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104442\/revisions\/104443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}