SIGH

This is my first taste of the Japanese rockers Sigh, and this trio are on a totally different musical planet to the rest of us. If their other four full-length albums are quite like this, then they have been wreaking some sort of musical terrorism. Example: The first song is called "Corpsecry ? Angelfall". Right I thought, a Death Metal album. Then the guitars started and I thought no, a wicked trad metal album. Then the vocals started, and I thought that is strange, as it was trad rock but with death vocals. When the orchestral section kicked in, I was confused. The Las Vegas lounge core had me going for a while, but by the time we came to the piano instrumental I had given up trying to work out what was going on in their oriental minds.

It is one of the most confusing albums I have ever heard. Just when I think I have a handle on them they shoot off in a weird direction from left field. If they left some of the basic rock songs alone they would be great, but they have to tamper with each. Their audiences must get very confused. Nevertheless, because of all of this, this is very much a fun album to listen to. The eleven-minute "Slaughtergarden Suite" shows that Sigh definitely inhabit another realm, and I want to visit.

Originally appeared in Feedback #63, July 01

"In Somniphobia" is the 9th full-length studio album by Japanese avant garde/progressive extreme metal act Sigh. The album was released through Candlelight Records in March 2012.

The music on "In Somniphobia" offers up pretty much what you expect from a Sigh album. The unexpected! The band have long journeyed the outer limits of avant garde/progressive extreme metal and listening to "In Somniphobia" it quickly becomes apparant that the adventurous journey is far from over. These guys are still so far out in space that it´s doubtful they´ll ever return to planet earth. While the basis in the music is as always a raw type blackened thrash/heavy metal, that´s only the bottom of a multilayered soundscape pyramid. Classical music, spaghetti western- and B-horror movie soundtrack music, jazz, blues, progressive rock, avant garde and all sorts of other influences can be heard throughout the album.

As an example take the track "The Transfiguration Fear". How the hell the band manage to incorporate a spaghetti western theme, female choirs, handclaps, a saxophone solo, galloping heavy metal rythms, raspy black metal type vocals and all sorts of other oddities to the track and make it sound like the easiest and most seamless thing in the world is beyond me and just one of the things on this album that proves how greatly skilled Sigh are as composers. And that is just one track out of 11. I´ll stop here but you get the picture on how eclectic the music is.

The musicianship is generally on a very high level and the sound production is well sounding and suits the music perfectly. So "In Somniphobia" is through and through a quality release and fans of avant garde/progressive extreme metal should find lots to like here. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

Psychedelic black metal

The extreme progressive metal bands are indeed quite a strange lot. Right from the start, with very few exceptions, you can never determine where they will come from or what they will sound in the future. In spite of that, with over 20 years after the first members of such lot appeared, some patterns start to appear, like the progressive "symphonic" (used here as a broad term) black metal of Vintersorg, Borknagar, Arcturus, Solefald and Moonsorrow, the progressive "space" black metal such as Enslave and Helheim, the progressive melodic death metal from bands like Edge of Sanity, Disillusion and Kalysia, the progressive death metal of bands like Augury, Death, Gojira and Blotted Science, the jazz metal fusion, famed by bands such as Pestilence, Cynic, Atheist, Aghora, Animals as Leaders and Exivious and the progressive thrash of Watchtower, Voivod, Spastic Ink and Vektor.

However, even in a genre with so many different sub genres within itself some bands find a way to defy all of them and create something that can only be described as their sound. Something so unique that they will serve as a point of reference for all others to follow, merging influences, musical styles and blurring the lines of what's possible and what's not possible inside extreme metal. Together with Opeth and Meshuggah, Sigh is one of those bands. Reinventing themselves in every new album, breaking boundaries and new ground, this Japanese band definitely does not fear innovating and renovating themselves. Said transformation properly started in their fourth full-length studio album, entitled Scenario IV: Dread Dreams, when they started transforming to something more than just a black metal band; however, things would only bloom in full with their next album, the 2001 opus entitled Imaginary Sonicscapes.

Throwing many conventions for black metal music right off the window, Sigh here starts their journey to merge unexpected and, at times, completely unrelated genres together, mishmashing everything into one record. Here, sigh incorporates huge deals of psychedelic music from the 1960's and early 1970's into their compositions as well as adds overlays of electronic effects to them. The end result, however good it is, feels somewhat flawed for me mainly because of the keyboard and synthesizer tones they decided to use here. Yes, the choice of using some keyboard and synth sounds that clearly belonged to the 1990's was not good at all because, after all, said decade was not quite fond of good keyboard sounds in general. That can be felt even in very good albums, like Dream Theater's Images and Words and Arcturus's La Masquerade Infernale.

Apart from that, all other instruments sound terrific! I specially like how the guitar sound raw, deep and intense and how the drums also sound raw and aggressive, accentuating the band's musical potency in general.

Another minor downturn is insisting in the idea that harsh vocals should and must be used in every instance of every song. Some songs or parts of songs here would sound better if the vocals were sung of whispered in a creepy or frightening manner, so the vocals would emphasize the song's atmosphere. On the bright side, they have learned this and on future albums they have used such resources to impressive results.

As I said earlier, the music here can be described as psychedelic rock mixed with black metal. But, how can you even begin to describe such sound? After all, there are not any point of reference to how they sound. Nothing. In spite of that, I feel that putting together completely unrelated bands I could try and explain how Sigh sounds here: just imagine if early Venom decided to play some songs by the (late era) Beatles or (early) Soft Machine or the Beach Boys (around Pet Sounds) or Iron Butterfly (around In a Gadda da Vida). Try and picture that and you will have an idea of how Sigh is in Imaginary Sonicscapes.

Rating and Final Thoughts

Even though Imaginary is much loved by many (of the few) who know in depth the music of Sigh, to the point of considering this 2001 album the best in the band's musical career, I beg to differ. In spite of having interesting, inspired and innovative musical ideas, their execution is underwhelming at points, what keeps me from giving this album the perfect rating. I must agree, however, that it is excellent in many instances and, in the big picture, it is an impressive album, whose music twists and turns in exciting and unexpected ways. That is why I believe the 4 stars rating fits this album perfectly.

Japan may not have the world's most renowned metal scene, but Tokyo's Sigh have gained a reputation as one of the most forward-thinking extreme metal bands on an international scope since their formation in 1990. The band's constantly changing sound and ability to consistently put forth unique albums has impressed avant-garde metal fans for two decades, and In Somniphobia is proof that these giants have no intention of slowing down. This is a weird, weird album that spans nearly every conceivable genre out there, and yet Sigh manages to deliver their sound with consistency and fluidity. Although In Somniphobia is probably too "out there" for your average extreme metal fan, anybody with a craving for forward-thinking and truly innovative metal music is bound to have an absolute blast with what these Japanese masters have conjured this time around.

In Somniphobia served as my introduction to Sigh's music, and although I have since investigated some of their earlier releases, I'm still awestruck by how eclectic this album is. I've really never heard anything like this before, and while some comparisons can be drawn to groups like Mr. Bungle or Unexpect, Sigh is a distinctly different band. The 'black metal' label that is usually used to describe the band is rather minimal, and instead In Somniphobia sounds like a blend of death metal, classical music, progressive rock, jazz fusion, funk, trip-hop, free jazz, pop, psychedelic rock, avant-garde, Arabic music, and just about anything else under the sun. Possibly the most surprising factor about In Somniphobia is that, in spite of its seemingly 'random' nature, Sigh manages to blend all of these vastly different sounds into a cohesive and logical sound - somehow the band makes all of these genres sound as if they were 'meant' to be blended together, and this is unquestionably In Somniphobia's greatest strength.

Take a listen to the twisted, brutal-take-on-lounge-jazz of "Amnesia", for instance. Though most sane people would agree that lounge jazz and death metal don't belong within 100 feet of each other, Sigh begs to differ, and creates a unique concoction of these two vastly different styles - and, most of all, it works exceptionally well. Keep in mind, however, that this is just one out of eleven tracks. Before this album is over, you'll be treated with a strange neo-classical extreme metal sound in "Purgatorium", a Latin jazz rhythm section from hell in "The Transfiguration Fear Lucid Nightmares", a disturbed carnival music opus in the form of "Far Beneath the In-Between", as well as just about anything else the most perverted parts of your brain desire. This is a demanding, disturbed, and extremely challenging record, but Sigh manages to convey their avant-garde sound in a way that still manages to be fun for the open-minded listener.

Although the hour-plus playing time can make for a rather exhausting listen and the unpolished production doesn't quite fit the music in my opinion, these are minor complaints when we're talking about an album that's this damn good. As eclectic and flat-out weird as In Somniphobia may be, Sigh manages to make their one-of-a-kind sound come across as coherent and fluid - something like this can rarely be said about most bands that take a musical approach as decidedly avant-garde as Sigh's. This is a simply spectacular album, and 4 stars is the very least I can give out in this case. Fans of Sigh and avant-garde metal in general owe it to themselves to hear this magnificent opus.

I'm not a huge black metal fan. At this point in my life, I've listened to around 10 black metal albums, and that's including stuff like Alcest. But oh my goodness, this album... I've already listened to it 10 times itself. Each song is both "catchy" (in black metal terms) and yet also ridiculously dense and eclectic. From electronic to 70's prog to various types of world music, all this manages to proceed forth in the music. But what really makes the variety so effective is how natural it feels. There are no obvious transitions between types of music; they simply spring forth (sometimes almost imperceptible beneath a wall of dissonance) and fade away just as casually. And through all this, this album is a blast to listen to. Despite dark, beautiful, moving lyrics, this black metal has moments of pure ecstasy that shine through. It all feels so natural: the anger, the peacefulness, the seriousness, the light-heartedness. This album is a masterpiece.

Rating: 10/10

(Origina review from MMA)

Sigh are one of Japan's most wide known metal bands, and there is a very good reason why. This is unlike anything else you have ever heard before.

The base style here is black metal, but when one listens to this album, that reallly does not cover at all what music is contained within. The vocals tend to be black metal sounding, and there are guitar parts that sound definently black metal, but then you get something like the song Nietzschean Conspiracy, which starts off with some electronic washings, a saxophone, and some heavy drummachine bass beats, and then it gains some symphonic flourishes. There is nothing in this song at all that in any way reminds me black metal.

I prefer to let albums speak for themselves so I won't spoil this album by talkng on it too much. I will say one more thing though. You know no band that lists a Speak And Spell as a instrument is going to be anything but strange.

'The Curse Of Izanagi' - Sigh (7/10)

In tandem with the release of their eighth studio album 'Scenes From Hell', Sigh put out this EP to give their rabid fans something extra to chew into. 'The Curse Of Izanagi' is a four song EP from these guys, and I have to say, even though the band was not setting off to do anything groundbreaking for their career here, they have created a charismatic batch of tracks here that shows the strange style of Sigh in full. Like most people, I tend not to take EPs with the same serious intent that I would a full-length album, and while there is not the sort of depth here that I would find on a full record by this band, there is certainly enough here to keep a listener engaged through to the end.

The first song here is the title track, and it really shows Sigh moving back to their roots of black metal. Saturated with screams, blastbeats, and a level of speed where I was thinking I had a malfunctioning copy that was running twice as fast, 'The Curse Of Izanagi' would actually be a pretty incomprehensible short burst of raw black metal, were it not for the symphonic orchestrations that are added overtop. Sigh uses some Japanese traditional sounds here, and it gives the band a more unique and distinctive feel to them. Next is 'War', which is more an ambient track than anything, with eerie soundscapes and a British accented man droning on with poetry that sounds like it could very well be Edgar Allan Poe's. It is a great track for ambiance and atmosphere, but didn't give me that chaotic shock like the first track.

The third track here 'Spiritual' may be the least memorable track of them all, despite being the most melodic. It takes that fusion of Japanese symphonic elements and raw metal that we heard on the first track and goes in a different direction with it, a slower moving track with the keyboards forming a pleasant melody. Despite having grimy chords backing it up, it is actually a fairly optimistic track, and a sharp contrast to the final track. Paying homage to what I can interpret as their equivalent of 'gods on earth' (based on the amount of tributes they have given to them), Sigh covers a track by their favourite band Venom, the song 'Countess Bathory'. Here, we hear Sigh as raw and filthy as they were at the start of their careers, and while the song is incredibly simple (it actually reminded me of a black metal rendition of Nirvana, goat help me...), it is memorable as hell, ending the EP on a powerful note.

Although it will certainly be fans that will get the most out of this record, 'The Curse Of Izanagi' is a great EP from Sigh, and shows some of metal's most innovative personnel doing what they do best. There is still nothing groundbreaking here, but there is more than enough here to impress me.

'Infidel Art' - Sigh (7/10)

Sigh is undoubtedly one of the strangest, and most inventive metal bands I have come across. With each album, they reinvent themselves in unexpected ways, leaving no stone unturned as they make their way. Although Sigh is often labelled as a black metal group, they are probably best simply described as being 'avant-garde'; their music and approach always changes, but their ambition and originality stays consistent. The first album of theirs, 'Scorn Defeat' (along with a handful of demos) stuck to a thrashy black metal standard, content to mirror their European contemporaries with the same sort of raw riffs and primal delivery that the genre of black metal is best known for. 'Infidel Art' sees a big evolution for the band, and a step towards the more ambitious material they would be known for in the future.

'Infidel Art' sees the band teetering between the forward-thinking, and the formulaic. Sigh's work here can be roughly split into two sides; half of the time on the album is devoted to a sound of blackened thrash that only differs from the demo material by an improved sense of production. The speedy riffs and energy of the band is enjoyable and while not having the same grasp of atmosphere like contemporaries Mayhem or Emperor had with their black metal sound, it is fairly well performed and nicely heavy. It's the other dimension of sound on 'Infidel Art' that I find to be the more interesting though; even early on, Sigh were not afraid to test the boundaries of their style, and this would be taken to new heights with the addition of strange symphonic elements in Sigh's makeup. Sometimes, these symphonic sounds- which typically fall back on a keyboard emulating a string section or Japanese woodwind- are meant to compliment the existing black metal sound by whistling along with the guitars and drums, but Sigh hits their peak here when the symphonic elements take over. I was very surprised to hear the complexity of the orchestrations that Sigh composes and carries out here, especially at the end of the highlight 'Desolation', there is a long section with a dramatic cinematic flair that almost feels as if it could have been plucked from a Sergio Leone film. Sigh also works with some scarce clean vocals here on top of the more metal leaning rasps, and they are quite warm and well-done.

One thing that continues to irritate me about 'Infidel Art' however is its somewhat scattered feeling. There are great ideas everywhere here, and it has some remarkably interesting things to offer, but as a whole, it suffers from a bumpy consistency. When I hear such great things as 'Desolation' or other places where Sigh works their symphonic magic, it can get monotonous to hear them focusing on their metal element for a little too long here and there. Sigh typically has a feeling of randomness in their music, and I get that sense here as well; although each aspect has alot of individual potential, I sometimes ask myself if the way they try to combine the different sounds in the album is always effective, or rather contrived.

A very good album for Sigh, as well as an early sign of what could really be done with black metal once its musicians started looking outside the box.

Envision an oil on canvas painting of a pastoral landscape in which the sun is replaced by a Kardashian buttocks.

Within the musical landscapes of Hail Horror Hail, Sigh breaks with tradition in almost every song concerning the ultra-serious black metal genre by tossing in some unexpected elements that not only add variety and depth to the proceedings, but, in my case at least, lots of humour (intentional or not) as well. It's not like the band isn't trying to play good black metal of the first generational variety (Venom and early Celtic Frost as opposed to the Norwegian stuff of the early 90s) with added symphonic elements, it just seems like they can't help but throw in something really off the wall somewhere in many of their tracks...unique for sure, but not always fitting. That isn't to say this album is not an artistic accomplishment...it certainly is...but it's not for all tastes, including many fans of black metal who would scowl and curse the night sky at the xylophone melodies in "Curse of Izanagi" or the keyboard runs mimicking a saxophone in "12 Souls".

What helps make this album work is the seeming seriousness of the lyrics. They are the typical evil sadistic and devil worshipping variety of verse, shrieked out with abandon by Mirai to the point where he sometimes sounds like he's exhausted towards the end of certain tracks. This, along with the doom influenced black metal template they follow sets the landscape. The goofy things such as the slo-mo robotic vocals and bombastic cheesy and rather happy sounding symphonic passages are like a giant rump in the sky...something that shouldn't be there, but it is, and it's up to you to decide what to think.

Two songs deserve special mention. The opening track is a killer. It plays more like a doomy hard rock track with a powerful guitar sound and some serious kick-ass blues solos. Blues solos! The lyrics are dark, but the music is so much fun that it reminds me that Satan hasn't often been so groovy since Black Widow's Sacrifice. The other track is "Invitation To Die". It's a one-of-a-kind for sure as Mirai shrieks and rasps over beautiful, sweet and peaceful synthesizer melodies. It's ridiculous, yet ridiculously entertaining. Although the rest of the album isn't quite at that level of insanity, it's an interesting yet somewhat bizarre piece of artwork.

'Tragedies' - Sigh (3/10)

With Japanese black metal band Sigh's first demo 'Desolation', I found myself initially seeing it as being little more than a run-of-the-mill black metal demo, but even early on, it was clear that Sigh was up to something different, using keyboards in ways that was not being heard in much black metal at the time. In any case, 'Desolation' was still something of a mixed bag, but I found myself appreciating it for the potential that the band demonstrated with it. Now, Sigh's second demo 'Tragedies' seems to be something more of the same, although some of the charm that the first had doesn't seem to have crossed over to this one.

As is quite typical for black metal demos, the sound is very rough, often to the point where it obscures the music. The production does seem a little improved from 'Desolation' here on 'Tragedies' though; the vocals have been brought up somewhat in the mix, and the instruments can be heard with a little more definition. Unfortunately, the presentation still is not preferred over 'Desolation', due to the fact that while both of these suffer from weak production, 'Desolation' felt as if it had a little more bite to it. Moreover, 'Tragedies' simply reprises many of the same tracks from the first demo, adding and developing to them. This results in the tracks feeling a little too drawn out for what they are.

Sigh's 'Tragedies' is still far from the worst black metal demo I've ever heard; it in fact still has much of the same promise and potential that I heard on 'Desolation'. For the sake of an actual listen however, there is little substance to speak of here.