Germany as a country continues to offer a multitude of rich young artists willing to put their mark on the metal scene. Hailing from Stuttgart, Axetasy formed in 2020 – releasing their debut demo Slicing Dreams the following year, as well as two follow-up singles that set the stage with this debut full-length Withering Tides. The four-piece delivers a style that integrates aspects of speed, black, and old-school power into a traditional metal platform that is equally aggressive as it can be melodic in surprisingly nuanced ways. Between the twin guitar attack, forceful vocal delivery, and potent sense of bass/drum mainframe duties, it’s easy to ascertain the passion these musicians have for classic 80s bands from all across their European heritage as well as some distant across the pond influences.
Most listeners will easily gravitate towards the exhilarating guitar action, spirited hero-oriented lead breaks, and dual harmony antics from vocalist Johnny ‘Amon’ Kröner and Nik ‘Fetch’ Mangold. Their energetic abilities galvanize those deep Iron Maiden / early Helloween feel good moments racing through time as “Voidcrawler” and “Withering Tides of Space” peel through your speakers. Add in Ben ‘Jaxxy’ Kruska as a third fluid piece through his progressive bass passages and it’s easy to understand that there’s high quality riffs, transitions, and hooks that mesmerize from initial exposure through successive, deeper playbacks. Choosing to subscribe to a clean yet raw enough production ensures that one foot in the past while not forsaking appeal to a younger, hungry audience who clamor for bands closer to their age bracket to champion. When the band choose to slow down to mid-tempo gallop mode in sections of “Deadly Witch”, it reaches this explosive impact when the harmony background vocals and double kick activities of drummer Chris Kröner take control in the chorus. Pulling double duty as the singer, Johnny’s delivery contains the requisite forceful bite to his verses, taking on occasional eagle screams to punctuate key passages on highlights like “Axetasy – Of Murder” and “Fatal Maze”.
40 minutes later, most ardent metalheads won’t have any problem returning for another round of Withering Tides. Axetasy has a great future ahead of them if they can continue to crank out infectious speed anthems with the right amount of guitar hook swagger that exists here.