Thantifaxath - Void Masquerading as Matter

By Justin C. The new Thantifaxath EP, Void Masquerading as Matter, starts with a song called "Ocean of Screaming Spheres." That's all you need to know. Go buy it. O.K., fine, you want more details? I can help you out. This 35-minute "EP" finds

By Justin C.


The new Thantifaxath EP, Void Masquerading as Matter, starts with a song called "Ocean of Screaming Spheres." That's all you need to know. Go buy it.

O.K., fine, you want more details? I can help you out. This 35-minute "EP" finds Thantifaxath once again pushing the boundaries of their dissonant black metal, teetering between the abrasive and the downright chaotic. As with the transition from their self-titled debut to Sacred White Noise, the band makes more strides forward, although "outward" may be a better description. The jagged, off-kilter riffs are still here, as is the audible bass that anchors the songs without pushing too much bottom end. But there's also a new expansiveness. The previously mentioned opener transitions halfway through the song to a slow, somber piano line accompanied by a swarm of angrily buzzing insects. The bass eventually comes back, roughly mimicking the piano line, but ultimately leading into frenzied accelerandos and crescendos as the vocals become more and more desperate.

The second track, "Self-Devouring Womb," uses a similar sense of expansiveness. A mournful section of violin and acoustic guitar puts one in mind of the soundtrack of an old, black-and-white movie. There's a train platform, and the leading man is leaving the love of his life--maybe to join the front lines of World War II--but instead of a bittersweet and predictable ending, seeing the lovers reunite or the woman left behind to mourn him being killed in action, the man throws himself into the machinery of the train before it even leaves the station. Even Thantifaxath's quiet sections lead to a profound sense of unease.

Photos by Carmelo Española.

The performance and compositions are virtuosic--just check out the dizzying guitar lines that run up and down throughout "Cursed Numbers" and enjoy the warm, blissful feeling that comes from part of your brain being liquified and dripping out of your ears. This track is probably, at times, the most traditionally heavy hitting, but there are still bits of what I call in mind "evil twinkling" and a bassoon (or electronic equivalent) adding a plaintive line. The song refuses to be pinned down, nearly falling apart in the middle before moving to full blast again.

And then there's the closing title track--a seven-and-a-half minute choral piece. This isn't unprecedented for the band. The first track of their self-titled debut was also a choral piece, but this one pushes even further into the realms of the bizarre. It's as if the band took Mozart's Requiem and pushed it through some mathematical space just beyond human understanding. The song is punctuated by restless lines in the higher voices, occasionally contrasted with forceful blasts from the low vocalists. As with most of the album, there's often a sense of imminent closure coming up, perhaps in the form of a nice, consonant blast to offset the dissonance, but the song, and the album itself, drift off on a mysterious note rather than ending. A fitting end to another brilliant album for this band at the end of a bizarre, unsettling year.

Matt Hinch's Top 5 (or 10) Canadian Releases of 2014

Written by Matt Hinch.

When I was first tasked with selecting my favourite Canadian releases of 2014 I thought it was a weak year. But as I dug through my Oh Canada! 2014 playlist it didn't seem that weak at all. Picking my top 10 was hard enough let alone top 5. But I did and I must say, this is one helluva collection of releases! So, I present my favourite Canadian releases of 2014!

10. Thantifaxath – Sacred White Noise

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9. Begrime Exemious – Primeval Satellite

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8. Morgue of Saints - Monolith

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7. Northumbria – Bring Down the Sky

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6. Harangue – By the Strength of the Mighty Atlas

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5. Olde – I

It took all of about 11 seconds for me to know that this album was right up my alley. That first riff is the kind of fuzzed out heavy stoner riff that directs blood flow to my nether regions. Looking deeper into the band I found that it comprises members of “local” stoner legends Sons of Otis, as well as Moneen, Cunter, Grift, Five Knuckle Chuckle and Jaww. And is for fans of High on Fire, Sleep, Sabbath and Saint Vitus. What more could you ask for? You've got the tone of Sleep/Vitus, the groove of Sabbath, and the heavy-fucking-riffage of High on Fire et al. But Olde sound like they're having a lot more fun than any of those bands. Bleary-eyed stoner sensibilities, groove to spare and whiskey-throated vocals make it feel more in line with the likes of Weedeater or Black Tusk on cough syrup. Lump them in with whatever bedfellows you want but all that matters is how hard they riff. And hard do they riff. Sludgy, doomed, fat-bottomed stoner metal rolling around in a pile of riffs and tone makes I a calculated assault on sobriety and reason. Plus there's a (somewhat androgynous) person riding a bear on the cover!

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4. Astrakhan – A Tapestry of Scabs and Skin

Artwork by Nick Patterson

These guys really impressed me with The Pillarist EP. For this EP they've added two new songs to the two on The Pillarist to create twice as much awesome. Spawned from the same scene that brought us Bison and Anciients, Astrakhan play some serious prog-inflected sludge. Even that descriptor doesn't seem accurate. They've got the massive riffs and heavy tone of sludge but the guitar work is incredibly nuanced. Sublimely crafted songs reflect the talents of a band not afraid to grasp at the grandest of scope. Astrakhan can run rough shot with the best and then blast off in a cloud of kaleidoscopic guitars ripping out complicated rhythms and solos that will inspire even the most lumpish of metalheads. My favourite aspect of the band and EP is the vocals. Trading off hollers full of emotion and passion, they fully engage with the listener. They're not always gruff, in fact sometimes the cleaner, the better, but they aren't half-assing anything. “The Pillarist” itself illustrates the band's best points quite well. Excellent vocals, an assembly line of sweet riffs, sinuous groove, meaningful solos and tremendous flow. Two songs really impressed me. Four songs blew me away and kept getting better the more I listened to them. When Astrakhan puts out a full length who knows what kind of musically induced coma it's gonna put me in. I can't wait!

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3. Archspire – The Lucid Collective

Artwork by Ken Sarafin

This one surprised the hell out of me. I'm not usually one for over the top technicality. Origin, Obscura and the like. But Archspire? Oh fuck yeah, bud! I can't exactly pin down what makes these West Coasters different but I kept coming back to this album over and over. The technical prowess on display here is outrageously spectacular. Yet, I never felt like they just pasted together a bunch of self-congratulatory shit and called it a song. The songs have flow and logical shifts from breakneck speed to mind-mangling technicality to head-caving brutality. Say what you want but this is technical death metal of THE highest order. I suppose a big part of what makes Archspire so appealing to me is how bassist Jaron Evil makes his bass go interstellar WITH FRETS. It's a personal thing but what keeps me away from equally talented bands like fellow Canucks Beyond Creation is that fretless bass sound. So with Archspire and The Lucid Collective you get next-level technicality fused to tangible death metal and awesome vocals on par with death metal's most inventive. Break your neck, brain and fingers all at the same time.

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2. Auroch – Taman Shud

Artwork by Antithesis

I referred to this album earlier in the year as the only death metal album you need to buy in 2014. That may not exactly be true (see above) but if I had to pick the most impressive death metal album of 2014 it would be this one. The Vancouver group puts together a potent arsenal for attacking the modern death metal landscape. Guitarist/vocalist Sebastian Montesi's slavering growl seems like it comes straight from the Lovecraftian tales that inspire their work. Back his fiendish vocals up with top quality blistering death and Auroch is unstoppable. They blend technical flair with bludgeoning brutality and a horrific atmosphere created naturally through swirling riffs. They never let the listener get totally comfortable, and the vocal diversity, from guttural to whisper and plain angry yelling keeps things from getting stagnant in that department. Taman Shud blows away much of the competition through their obvious skill and well executed vision. No death metal album in 2014 was able to dazzle and destroy quite the way Taman Shud did. It's well rounded violence equally suited to impress through technicality as it is through brutality.

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1. Culted – Oblique to All Paths

One could make an argument that Culted aren't exactly Canadian since vocalist Daniel Jansson lives in Sweden. However, they qualified as Canadian for the Juno Awards (basically the Canadian Grammy Awards) so that's good enough for me. Released back in January of 2014 Oblique to All Paths stuck around on my playlist almost the whole year. Their brand of doom is like no other. Slow and brooding obviously but the atmosphere they create is wholly unsettling. Droning noise and creeping synths create a darkness most foul as Jansson's snarling, hateful, throaty growl raises the hair on the back of your neck. For all the doom and gloom surrounding their sound, they can flat out bring the heavy when they want. “Illuminati” features a fierce doom riff that smashes it's way into your brain and refuses to be ignored. I could listen to that chord progression for days. Oblique is all about creating a mood but it's not the same mood throughout. Disconsolate, vengeful, sorrowful, and more. It's over an hour of heaving, depressing yet surprisingly uplifting at times blackened doom. The noise, synths and industrial touches put Culted a unique place in the doom world. One thing is for certain, Oblique is massive, encapsulating and as I wrote in a 9/10 review elsewhere, “painfully affecting” and the best thing to come out of Canada (and Sweden) last year.

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Thantifaxath - Thantifaxath

By Andy Osborn. Flying completely under the metallic radar, Thantifaxath quietly released their debut 12-inch at the end of 2011, which made it too late to appear on just about every annual best-of list. But after stumbling across it

By Andy Osborn.

Photo by Nicéphore Niépce

Flying completely under the metallic radar, Thantifaxath quietly released their debut 12-inch at the end of 2011, which made it too late to appear on just about every annual best-of list. But after stumbling across it a few months after it came out it quickly became one of my favorite releases of that year. The unknown members hide their identity and perform live with countenance-covering robes to obscure their ages and genders; an increasingly popular trend among groups who eschew the modernity of social media and "celebrity" worship.

But within seconds of the first proper track, it's clear this isn't your neighborhood undergound kvlt collective. "Violently Expanding Emptiness" opens with one of the most memorable intros in recent memory. Not only is the bass audible, it's catchy and clean; lending its voice as a guiding force in the sonic onslaught. And this theme continues as you slowly realize the vocals are understandable - though without losing any of the chaotic depravity as is the norm in the genre. The EP continues to confound as it works its way through the next ten minutes, expanding on the beautifully non-canon sound with guitar solos, precision atonality and punishing yet unique percussion.

They fuse their melodic rhythms with odd time signatures and an experimental sheen reminiscent of Deathspell Omega, giving the finger to simplistic black metal that would make the complex French hordes proud. They may have only four recorded tracks to their name, but these clandestine Torontonians have shown a proficiency and sound unparalleled in the sea of North American black metal. With no online presence it's tough to say what the future holds for the band, but a recent live performance of a new song promises there is much more up their dark, flowing sleeves.

Thantifaxath - Sacred White Noise

By Justin C. A few years ago, a friend of a friend gleefully proclaimed that they found a "wrong note" in a U2 song. It was in one of the songs off their 2009 album No Line on the Horizon. I didn't press him on the details--he was the kind of person who

By Justin C.


A few years ago, a friend of a friend gleefully proclaimed that they found a "wrong note" in a U2 song. It was in one of the songs off their 2009 album No Line on the Horizon. I didn't press him on the details--he was the kind of person who fancied himself a music scholar, but really only had enough knowledge to be dangerous. His statement made me chuckle for a couple of reasons. The album probably had a production budget the same size of the entire Apollo Space Program with at least 100 times the computing power available, so the idea that an unintended note would somehow end up in the finished product is hard to believe. On a broader level, the idea that a some notes are "wrong" is a funny idea, even if it's common among less-adventurous music consumers. I'm guessing that U2 threw a slightly dissonant note in somewhere, and it was made all the more jarring to my acquaintance because, as a pop band, U2 typically stays well within the vanilla of musical sounds.

Of course, metal knows no such fears of dissonance, and Thantifaxath's new album, Sacred White Noise, demonstrates this handily. The first few seconds of the opening track, "The Bright White Nothing at the End of the Tunnel", gives you a hint of what you're in for. It sounds like the organ soundtrack of a merry-go-round sped up to 10 times its normal speed, and when the first guitar riff kicks in shortly thereafter, its restless dissonance wanders in that realm where music and mathematics intersect. It's a great, satisfying line, but it's jarring and cerebral at the same time. if you're worried there won't be enough black metal, don't be. There's plenty of blast beating and tremoloing to go around, and the vocals are raspy, full-throated, and actually understandable for the most part. But everything is always just a little bit off in the best way possible.

Therein lies Thantifaxath's brilliance. There's always a delicate balance between the immediately satisfying and the bizarre. "Gasping in Darkness" may start with the most evil-sounding Gregorian chant ever, with voices slowly drifting in and out of unison, but when the main rift kicks in, it's an immediately likeable bit of blackened doom made just a bit odd by the changing meter it's played over. The mournful, beautiful strings that open the closing track, "Lost in Static Between Worlds", help balance the hyper-frenzied guitar freakout in the middle of the song. The music is cerebral, but with plenty of emotional gut punches to absorb along the way.

Thantifaxath probably won't be the most dissonant thing you've ever heard. There are always bands like Jute Gyte, with their "We Will Use All the Notes Inbetween the Notes!" approach to occupy the outer edges of what music can be. But Thantifaxath balances the avant garde with more familiar territory, even if it's always just a bit out of focus, giving us an album with plenty of intellectual depth to pour over, but with an immediacy that keeps the whole affair from being exhausting. Their previous EP hinted at this, but as good as that EP is, Sacred White Noise is a quantum leap forward.