Thantifaxath — Sacred White Noise

Not much is known about Canadian black metal band Thantifaxath, simply because the three-piece hasn’t released any information about the band members. There’s no lineup credited for either of the band’s two releases; there aren’t even aliases given like many bands often do. When the band plays live, the members play completely shrouded in black cloaks to conceal their identities. Very mysterious stuff indeed.  Sacred White Noise is the first album I’ve heard from the band. I heard about the band’s self-titled EP when it was released back in 2011 by Dark Descent Records, but never got around to checking it out.

From the onset of the album’s opening track, “The Bright White Nothing at the End of the Tunnel,” dissonance and depravity are constant companions. A discordant swell of orchestral noise gives way to sharp, spiraling guitar riffs that shred your sanity and leave you with a sense of dread and unease until it bursts forth in a flood of hate that renders you defenseless. “Where I End and the Hemlock Begins” and “Gasping in the Darkness” erode any foolish sense of hope the listener might have, with even more nihilistic, dissonant riffs that swell up out of the shadows and engulf the listener. Blast beats are used more frequently on these two tracks, and are used in tandem with the biting guitar work to further envelope the listener in a sense of unease and hopelessness.

“Eternally Falling” is an instrumental track, which, instead of acting as a respite from the frightening black metal on the first half of Sacred White Noise, allows the listener to sink even deeper into despair. Eerie, spacey synths are accompanied by violins and ringing minor chords, and there truly is a sense of falling through time and into an unspeakably horrific, inescapable dimension, where anything other than depression and pain is inconceivable. Towards the end, the bass and drums come in and slow, heavy riffs serve as a warning for what is to come.
 

“Panic Becomes Despair” acts as a bridge between the instrumental and the mammoth closing track. It contains some of the best riffs on the album, with a more straightforward, punishing assault, until finally ending with nearly a minute of guitar feedback, static, and white noise. The closer, “Lost in Static Between Worlds,” is a fucking monster. It’s a full eleven minutes, but not one second of it serves as filler. Oftentimes, closing tracks don’t do the album justice, and leave the listener wanting. Not here, though. Violins take a more prominent role here, before being swept aside by a pained shriek, crashing cymbals, and wailing guitars. The song builds up to a frenzied peak halfway through, before sinking to a sickening, lurching, depraved trudge, until it finally ends and harsh static and sacred white noise end the track.

Sacred White Noise is a pretty monstrous  full lenght debut, no doubt. In addition to the horrifying atmosphere that is built, the band’s performance instrumentally is a strong one. I must also mention the album’s exceptional recording quality. Everything is perfectly clear, and even the bass can be heard quite easily. The album isn’t a very long one, and for that I’m grateful. There isn’t a minute of filler material on this album; each track continues along the path set by the previous one on a focused journey to hell. It’s quite the achievement, and fans of bands like Deathspell Omega are sure to enjoy the sickening punishment Sacred White Noise dishes out.