Thantifaxath - Hive Mind Narcosis

Thantifaxath Expand on The Introspective Philosophy Lurking in "Hive Mind Narcosis" (Interview)

Soon, Toronto’s Thantifaxath will hit the road in support of their latest album Hive Mind Narcosis. It’s recommended that you listen to it as soon as possible so you have enough time to digest what the hell is happening within its confines. It’s one of the best albums of the year, not only for its symbolism, sublime pacing, and forward-thinking compositions, but for how little it reveals about its identity while asking you to find yourself within it. Hive Mind Narcosis is both imposing and immediately gratifying, reeling you back in with the promise of exceptionally tight black metal only to pose questions you may not be willing to answer. 

Ahead of their tour, we spoke with a Thantifaxath member to try and find out more about their philosophy. The thing is, crafting questions to ask the anonymous group was tricky. They’re more of an entity than a band, and all the information they release about their music only leads down rabbit holes. 

For instance, the official description for Hive Mind Narcosis includes this quote, “The album has two levels working in dichotomy with one another. On one level, there is a strong resistance to something, and on the other, there is a total acceptance of that same thing.” Mystery is imperative to Thantifaxath, though it’s not to build intrigue. It exists to purge the members’ identity from the music and remove any notions that could influence how one interprets them. Their craft exists in the obscured space between the audience and the performer, and in this distance Thantifaxath force listeners to discover their own conclusions.

As such, many of the questions we posed to their representative only caused us to consider why we asked them in the first place. Much like their music, the point isn’t the answer, but what lies beneath it. It’s more fruitful to examine how their ideas affect us than it is to find out the why of their origins. Sure, music is a shared tongue through which one can find a piece of themselves. Love songs are addictive because they deal with ubiquitous sentiments, and even the most braggadocious rap lyrics fulfill a power fantasy—It’s not that we’re excited Bobby Shmurda thinks that he’s Tom Cruise, but that we feel like we are Bobby with that tool. 

Thantifaxath don’t engage with those universal emotions, though. Their imagery is stark yet inhuman. Their experiences are metaphorical. It’s daunting to investigate what’s just outside the frame because it teeters on an abyss, and you may not be prepared for it to stare back at you. However, Thantifaxath encourage you to take that plunge and confront that which you fear, whether it’s a circle of wolves or hungry ghosts. 

As daunting as that sounds, their live shows transmute that energy into a somewhat digestible and, arguably, more impressive format. In their own words, “Playing live is a different machine. We've never tried to replicate our recorded music exactly live. Rather, it takes on its own life in rehearsal, and there’s a lot more free expression, chaos, and improvisation live.” So, if you’ve been holding off on Hive Mind Narcosis, or have a spare few dollars for a show, there are worse ways to spend a night than with Thantifaxath.

What inspired your interest in the unconscious?

When I was a child (7 or 8), I woke up with a splitting headache every day. I eventually found out that I was grinding my teeth in my sleep at night. An adult I was close to at that time had struggled with depression and a codeine addiction, and after many doctors, he decided to try hypnotherapy. He was able to second-hand teach me a simple self-hypnosis technique to stop grinding my teeth. He said I didn't need to believe it, just to keep doing it. In less than a week, my headaches disappeared and never returned. This was my first insight into the power of the unconscious.

In your print-only interview with Decibel Magazine, you said, “The most powerful art comes from a place you can’t understand consciously.” How do you create art if you don’t understand it on a conscious, or logical, level?

The only way I can respond to that question is with a series of questions: Where does creativity come from for you? Is it logical? Have you glimpsed its source? When nature creates beauty, is it conscious that it's trying to make art or is it just doing what it does? Can humans create like that? 

In my experience, all I can do is show up for it. I have to sift through a lot of garbage before I find anything worth sharing. Much of the garbage is my own mind trying to make what it thinks art is. I don't think you can put "have a revelatory idea" into your daily planner. 

Another quote you gave to Decibel that I love goes, “Pleasures feel empty; pain is avoided; all that’s left is an undercurrent of fear.” How does Thantifaxath interact with this cycle for you? 

That statement was in reference to Carl Jung's "shadow self" as an unconscious manifestation of everything we hate and fear to look at in ourselves. It has both individual and collective levels to it. Looking at it is painful. Pain avoidance is a driving force in addiction and escapism. 

I was suggesting that this Shadow, rather than being something to fight or avoid, could be something to look at and work with throughout your life. This is an abiding theme in Thantifaxath.

Why do you leave your music’s themes up to interpretation?

Even after the songs are finished, I'm often still working out exactly what they mean to me. Arguably, because I'm struggling to admit something to myself. The source of a gut feeling isn't always easy to identify or pleasant to look at. Likewise, once it's released, it's yours to experience. Who am I to deprive others of their personal interpretation?

On that note, I’d love it if you could give me more information on the album’s title, Hive Mind Narcosis. Can we interpret the title to mean that our society restricts us due to induced narcosis?

I wouldn't say it's that political or conspiratorial. Let's just say the title is less about the powers that be and more about you and how you relate to the whole. I'd prefer not to explain further than this. 

However, your question inspired me to share a Lao Tsu quote someone recently read me. "As soon as beauty is known by the world, it becomes ugly. As soon as virtue is being known as good, it becomes evil." 

How do you feel that Thantifaxath's anonymity bolsters your vision?

It is primarily a means to shift focus towards the art itself and not the personalities. It doesn't mean much to us beyond that. As we've stated in the past, we are not special as individuals. The image, or lack thereof, will be a mirror of whatever you want to see; it doesn't really matter to us.

Certain song titles make me think you’re mourning the loss of something from the past—“The Lost Wisdom of Wolves” and “Burning Kingdom of Now.” Is there any thematic connection between these titles?

I didn't see it at first, but there is a sort of "the fall" story working its way through the discography. If you're a human, somewhere deep down, you know your life is an opportunity, regardless of how hard it is. You could have been a sequence of myriad inanimate atoms and lower life forms since the beginning of the earth. And suddenly you get to be human. For a few decades, if you're lucky, then you're back to whatever you were before this. Some part of you knows this and fears losing the opportunity. As much as death, I believe we fear wasting our short time on this planet. What we've lost, as individuals and as a species, is time.

There’s a ton of imagery on Hive Mind Narcosis, particularly with wolves and hungry ghosts. I’m curious about what these two seemingly unrelated images represent.

Lyrics do something that logical, analytical language can't. So, I'm not interested in cementing the meaning of these images for people in that way. I've seen some great interpretations from fans.

Here's what I can say: Humans kill pretty much all the time, but we've forgotten how to kill with love. We've lost a sense of awe for the complexity of the natural systems we depend on. We're hoping those systems can keep up with the relentless hunger and restlessness that is so characteristic of our civilization. We hope some combination of amygdala fight-or-flight instincts and mathematics is enough to survive. We think we can live disconnected from nature and each other… and maybe we will soon. Just because we can, doesn't mean it's wise.

Your lyrics are quite poetic. How do they come to you? Is it in a similar fashion to the music, which you described as “showing up of its own accord?” 

Yeah, it's similar. I can't really say where it comes from. I'm just a moderator for what feels more and less truthful. And that's a task that is never finished; it always requires scrutiny. 

Much of the information available about Hive Mind Narcosis points that conceptually it's about an internal struggle - i.e., “The album has two levels working in dichotomy with one another. On one level, there is a strong resistance to something, and on the other, there is a total acceptance of that same thing.” Can you describe why you obscured those two levels?

Because they mean more the less you say about them with words. The actual sonic characteristics of the music is where you hear it. If you pay careful attention, you can hear the dichotomy at play throughout the record. “Solar Witch” has a big example of this built into the song. See if you can find it.

Thantifaxath were not a band I’d expect to see at The Arcade [Note: The Arcade is a small, DIY house venue in Toronto that regularly hosts independent concerts]: Seeing you there was a nice merger of inclusive spaces and black metal. Why did you want to play there, and did you know much about the space beforehand?

This space seemed good to play, as there is a built-in community that might not normally see us—especially in such an intimate setting. I've been to a few events there. The sound is surprisingly great for a DIY space. The people who run the space are intelligent and friendly people. We'll definitely play there again.

Right from when we started out as a band, we've always liked playing DIY spaces. We don't get to very often, as they're rare in Toronto. At this point, any good DIY space left in Toronto is worth supporting and protecting.

Hive Mind Narcosis released June 2nd via Dark Descent Records. Over at the BV shop, we've got a sweet exclusive oxblood variant of the LP available, too.

Thantifaxath Tour Dates:

THANTIFAXATH W/ SUNLESS

9/22 Montreal, QC @ L'Escogriffe Bar Spectacle

9/23 Ottawa, ON @ Dominion Tavern

9/24 Toronto, ON @ Monarch Tavern 

9/25 Detroit, MI @ Sanctuary

9/26 Louisville, KY @ Portal

9/27 Atlanta, GA @ Boggs Social & Supply

9/28 Columbus, OH @ Spacebar

9/29 Cleveland, OH @ No Class

10/1 St Louis, MO @ The Sinkhole

10/2 Des Moines, IA @ Lefty's Live Music

10/3 Milwaukee, WI @ X-ray Arcade

10/4 Chicago, IL @ Cobra Lounge

10/5 Omaha, NE @ Sydney

10/6 Colorado Springs, CO @ Vultures

10/7 Albuquerque, NM @ Sister Bar

10/9 Mesa, AZ @ The Nile Underground

10/10 Las Vegas, NV @ The Griffin

THANTIFAXATH W/SUNLESS & AEVITERNE

10/11 Costa Mesa, CA @ The Wayfarer

10/12 San Diego, CA @ Brick By Brick

10/13 Los Angeles, CA @ Knucklehead Bar

10/14 San Luis Obispo, CA @ Dark Nectar Coffee

10/15 Oakland, CA @ Stork Club

10/16 Portland, OR @ The High Water Mark

10/17 Seattle, WA @ Substation

THANTIFAXATH W/ SUNLESS 

10/18 Vancouver, BC @ Wise Hall

10/20 Calgary, AB @ Palomino

10/21 Edmonton, AB @ Starlite Room

10/23 Winnipeg, MB @ The Park Theatre