Waxen – Agios Holokauston
Waxen is the sole endeavor of Toby Knapp of Godless Rising fame and he once again demonstrates his well developed songwriting skills and shredding capabilities on the 6 fiery strings of fury. Waxen is predominantly a fuzz worthy black metal album, but Toby’s highly developed guitar skills offer both complex thrash and deathly qualities within the busy yet memorable riffs that whip Agios Holokauston into a state of sonic hyperventilation. Waxen is well recorded allowing every nuance in the music to rise to the surface, but the synthetic drums and overdriven (on purpose) hell screams just give this album a sense of home recorded nerdery. I’m not saying this is a bad thing, other than the obvious attempts to cover up the clunky and unnatural sound of the blast beats, rather it gives the album a pleasant sense of dedication to the music and Toby’s obvious desire to create music in spite of not having a drummer or the other personnel necessary to see these dreams come to life. He has achieved the goal of writing songs with depth as found on the nicely paced At War With Reason Itself that occasionally eases off the attack to welcome cleaner and more atmospheric passages to exist within his armaments. From a black-n-roll vibe to crusty dissonance, Waxen is a well considered project in spite of its limitations. Will I spin this often? Probably not, but it was interesting to hear where Toby is at in his development. -Marty
Moribund Records
Worm Gear 