Thantifaxath – Sacred White Noise

By Andrew Bansal

Canadian black metal trio Thantifaxath is a mysterious, anonymous entity. Aside from the fact that they hail from Toronto and are a three-piece band, nothing is known about them. But they certainly took a giant stride towards spreading their brand of black metal this year, with the release of their full-length debut album ‘Sacred White Noise’ via Dark Descent Records, a hypnotic journey through soundscapes that beautifully portray emotions laden with depression.

The six-track, 44-minute effort begins with ‘The Bright White Nothing At The End Of The Tunnel’, a very progressive composition transitioning through an array of great passages immediately reminiscent of bands like Enslaved, and the same can be said about the following track ‘Where I End and the Hemlock Begins’. But next comes the very aptly titled ‘Gasping In Darkness’ which really takes this album into top gear, a chanting intro followed by ominous riffs and segments of breakneck speed completely engulfing the listener’s mind. This masterful extreme metal tune leads into ‘Eternally Falling’, a haunting instrumental piece. Sacred White Noise reaches its pinnacle on its final track, the 11-minute creation ‘Lost In Static Between Two Worlds’.

The sheer degree of expression and the level of musicianship is so high that it times this album even with its unabatedly depressive black metal emanates an almost classical music type of vibe. The instrumentation plays the most important role throughout Sacred White Noise with merely sporadic harsh vocals, but the music is fantastic and the production enhances its impact further, Thantifaxath succeeding in putting out a black metal album that for a change does not sound like it was recorded in a gutter and still sounds sinister because of the music itself.

Thantifaxath’s ‘Sacred White Noise’ is the kind of record that possess the ability to treat the listener with a varied experience upon each listen due to its deeply expansive nature, and factors such as the time of day, weather and one’s own state of consciousness impact the power of the music on the album and lend different sonic textures to the manner in which it’s perceived.

Not only for fans of extreme/black metal but for keen explorers of all things weird, mystic, progressive and hypnotic, Thantifaxath’s ‘Sacred White Noise’ is undeniably worthwhile.

Rating: 9/10

Record Label: Dark Descent Records

Release Date: April 15th 2014

Track Listing:
01. The Bright White Nothing at the End of the Tunnel
02. Where I End and the Hemlock Begins
03. Gasping in Darkness
04. Eternally Falling
05. Panic Becomes Despair
06. Lost in the Static Between Worlds

Links: facebook | bandcamp

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