Looking back on its origins in raw and primitive sounding bands like Venom and Bathory, it's staggering to think of how far black metal has come, and how many places it has been as various bands take the template and rewrite it to fit their particular creative approach. Esoteric mages of sound Thantifaxath have used that same black metal vehicle as a means to reach unfathomed vistas, taking metal to a dizzying realm of abstract insanity that threatens to consume the listener.
Void Masquerading as Matter is brief, yet the band make effective use of each of the four songs on the EP, with nearly every track feeling considerable in its weight and potency. Opening track "Ocean of Screaming Spheres" drops the listener into a pocket dimension of deluging mercury, swirling with technicality and finesse, while at the same time being instantly catchy.
Thantifaxath display an acute understanding of the interplay between progressive and atmospheric; at no time does it feel that one is sacrificed in place of the other with the first three tracks, and the fourth and last is wholly and tangibly atmospheric. "Cursed Numbers" is a delve into cryptic labyrinths of tremolo picking and chord progression, but done in such an elegant and effective way that one can't help but embrace the chaos.
With Void Masquerading as Matter, Thantifaxath display a vision of black metal that, like bands such as Krallice and Oranssi Pazuzu, is not bound by genre convention and aims for lofty heights of dismal otherworldliness — and then achieves it.
(Dark Descent)Void Masquerading as Matter is brief, yet the band make effective use of each of the four songs on the EP, with nearly every track feeling considerable in its weight and potency. Opening track "Ocean of Screaming Spheres" drops the listener into a pocket dimension of deluging mercury, swirling with technicality and finesse, while at the same time being instantly catchy.
Thantifaxath display an acute understanding of the interplay between progressive and atmospheric; at no time does it feel that one is sacrificed in place of the other with the first three tracks, and the fourth and last is wholly and tangibly atmospheric. "Cursed Numbers" is a delve into cryptic labyrinths of tremolo picking and chord progression, but done in such an elegant and effective way that one can't help but embrace the chaos.
With Void Masquerading as Matter, Thantifaxath display a vision of black metal that, like bands such as Krallice and Oranssi Pazuzu, is not bound by genre convention and aims for lofty heights of dismal otherworldliness — and then achieves it.
