Thantifaxath - Sacred White Noise (2014)

I've never been terribly fond of black metal though that is not to say that I haven't stumbled across the occasional gem here or there throughout the last 20 some odd years since its second wind. The black metal that I do enjoy is primarily more adventurous than say, your typical 'Transilvanian Hunger' clone. Bands like Emperor, Blut aus Nord and Wormlust I find to be infinitely more intriguing than those bands who opt to drone out playing an open tremolo over a monotonous skank for a duration of five minutes or more.

Thantifaxath are definitely pushing the envelope. Sure, there's plenty of ho-hum black metal bullshit going here, but if you hang on for a second, those time-worn passages will lead you to the most glorious of open spaces. All of this , of course, does not spell victory as I had mentioned above there are plenty of traditionally homosexual black metal-(j)isms flying around all over the place. Sure, if you have the patience your endurance will pay off but as I've gotten older I've realized that sitting through 3 or 4 minutes of blah just to get to the "good part" is just a waste of my time. Plain and simple. These days I want to hear something that's good from start to finish. I do not want to engage in an aural scavenger hunt in order to obtain a mere moments worth of listening pleasure. next.