Music converges with the sacred in multiple ways. The term itself derives from mythology and, depending on the belief systems, may be used to separate beautiful or otherwise valuable sounds from others, be these deemed noise or blasphemous. Some suggest that an extraterrestial observer would consider music schools as religious institutions with their own godly figures, doctrines and scriptures. To complement and complicate the debate, Sounds Sanctified comprises an introduction and five essays where the sacred in music – and vice versa – is approached in the context of epics, architecture, hymns and church music, and extreme metal.