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Withering Tides is the debut album from Axetasy, a band out of Germany that, as their name probably indicates, plays fast, evil speed/thrash metal. Musically, the songs on Withering Tides remind me of early West Coast bands like Slayer and Abattoir, with fast, aggressive riffing yet retaining a lot of melody and solos that are more integrated into the overall songwriting vs. being a cacophony of pinches and squeals (not that either approach is meritless). The vocalist delivers a lot of Araya-like wails but there are also vocal lines and backing vocals that possess a punk vibe not too far removed from early Venom, evident on cuts like "Voidcrawler" and "Beyond All Order." Mostly, Withering Tides is all speed and howls and even though Axetasy didn't lay down any true killer tracks, every song is worthy and so, my fellow speed/thrash metal minions, we have another album to add to our collections.