This is a collection of my Instagram writeups on the individual albums of japanese avantgarde Black Metal band Sighs discography. I added annotations where needed. The albums are in chronological order.
Sigh - Scorn Defeat Genre: (Symphonic) Black Meta Label: Peaceville Records Year: 1993
Did you know that the first letters of all Sigh albums spell out the word 'Sigh'? After reminding you of this rather obscure fact, let us shift our attention to Sighs first album, 'Scorn Defeat'. Enjoying Sighs later material, I knew that Sighs early material would be hard to take in. I fully expected this whacky Japanese Act to be similarly eccentric right from the start, but I doubted I could expect a similar level of craft or even production. Sighs material and aspirations are complicated, and this is 1993 we are talking about - Synths weren´t yet very common and most black metal was still basically Crust Punk with tremolo picking. Sigh, however, crammed a lot of proto-symphonic elements in right from the start. I can at least give 'Scorn Defeat' that it is a fascinating cultural artifact of the time it was made. Sadly, it doesn´t all quite translate into an enjoyable listen. In the end, 'Scorn Defeat' alternates constantly between ideas that are interesting and where the execution could be forgiven considering the historical context that this album was made in and ideas that just don´t work (if admittedly for similar reasons). For example, 'Scorn Defeat' features a sampled piano that sounds great for the time and that often gets used in creative ways that edge out most piano implementation on similar albums. However, Sigh also take extravagant riffs and drag them out for too long, play material either slightly slower or faster than the material demands and also employ other Samples, like a horrendous harpsichord, that don´t nearly as good as the aforementioned piano. Still, as a cultural artifact and a teaser for what Sigh would end up doing, 'Scorn Defeat' is interesting enough for a single listen, at least. At the end of the day, it is ahead of its time and very hard to hate. Rating: 5/10.
Sigh - Infidel Art
Genre: (Symphonic) Black Metal
Label: Cacophnous Records
Year: 1995
Infidel Art' continues in a very similar manner to how the debut 'scorn Defeat' had sounded. Improvements on the albums are marginal at best and still show a knack for experimentation without the necessary arrangement skills to make the style work. Sadly, the album also has a similar effect: It is interesting on paper and as a historical artifact of a very early, yet isolated black metal and its respective scene. However, it is not a very enjoyable record on its own.
Comparing it to the debut, however, has some value as the incremental changs show where Sigh are headed. 'Infidel Art' shows an increased interest in what we would call the "First Wave" of black metal - as much as I despise the term. The traditional metal elements that were more scarce on the debut are on full display here and even some early Doom creeps in. In fact, I think that the traditional Metal influence in particular only comes back in such a distilled form on Sigh´s most recent output, 'Heir To Despair'. On following albums, Sigh would mostly focus on the japanese Sympho-cheese. To be honest, I am more than ready to enter Sigh´s second period, as this early period is really not doing it for me.
Rating: 5/10.
Sigh - Ghastly Funeral Theatre Genre: (Symphonic) Black Metal Label: Cacophnous Records
Year: 1997
Since the naming convention suggests that this counts as a part of the discography proper despite being an EP, I had to give Ghastly Funeral Theatre a shot. I am aware that many people consider this album the one where they finally hit their stride, but I frankly (and frustatingly) just consider it a step forwards, not a jump in their evolution. Ghastly Funeral Theatre consists of similar elements than the two albums that precede it and overall, its strangths and weaknesses lie in the exact same areas. To reiterate: The trad elements work well and are one of the strength of the album, even if the band sometimes decides to drag parts our for too long despite there being no real reason for it. The more outlandish elements (faux-symphonic, baroque and elements that seem to ape anime music) however still only seem to work on a 50/50 basis. Mirai et.al. seem to be chasing a sound that is fully formed in their head, but as of now they are lacking the skills to make it work in practice. Not that there´s nothing to like, though: The carnivalesque opening nails the atmosphere of a cheesy horror film and and especially track 5, 'Shikigami', is mostly good even if the ending falls apart slightly. Overall, there are too many flaws even within songs to pilfer the EP for playlist usage, though, and the good and the bad even out mostly. Rating: 5/10.
Sigh - Hail Horror Hail
Genre: Avantgarde Black Metal
Label: Cacophonous Records
Year: 1997
It says a lot when an album comes with a warning. There is a warning on the back of the CD (reproduced on the vinyl) that states: "Every sound on this album is deliberate and if you find that some parts of the album are strange, it isn't because the music in itself strange, but because your conscious self is ill-equipped to comprehend the sounds produced on this recording." This doesn´t really instill a lot of confidence in the album in me.Isn´t this saying "You´re not listening right!" when the album is rightfully criticised? I am not sure if this was Mirai´s intent with this quote, and I don´t like giving such a bad faith reading. At the same time, 'Hail Horror Hail' is weird and not necessarily in ways that are beneficial towards a listening experience.
It is often said that 'Hail Horror Hail' is the album where Sigh truly became SIgh. This is somewhat true, but the transformation happens within this album, rather than between releases. This is an album of two halves, although I am unsure if this is intentional or if it accidentally happened in the recording process. The first half of the album at times approaches unlistenability. Cacophonous sounds and noise collages will erupt seemingly at random, completely overpowering the symphonic elements that should be the center stage on songs like these. The first half is incredibly frustrating, as many times, songs that could be decent and listenable are ruined by sudden swells of nonsense. Am I ill-equipped to deal with it? Sure, but I also don´t know how I could equip myself for it except for forcing myself to get used to it. However, short instrumental 'Burial' serves as a sort of axis. Songs after burial are good, sometimes even great and the noise sweels never happen. The second half of 'Hail Horror Hail' is quintessential Sigh. The first half I would rather forget about.
Rating: 6/10.
Sigh - Imaginary Soniscape
Genre: Avantgarde Black Metal
Label: Century Media Records
Year: 2001
'Imaginary Soniscape' is often called Sigh´s first classic record. I believe this belief exists for a couple of reasons which are all not necessarily connected to the actual quality of the album. 'Imaginary Soniscape' is the first Sigh record to be released by an international major label, Century Media Records. For many, this will have been the first exposure to Sigh, and if you encounter a record like this and in 2001, it will probably blow your mind. The Century Media signing comes hand in hand with much better production value - the mix on 'Imaginary Soniscape' isn´t ideal, as the guitars are a bit loud and the usual odd mixing decisions are again present here. But all in all, it is a much more presentable album.
The last reason for the high standing of 'Imaginary Soniscape' in the minds of many a Sigh fan is probably the songwriting. The album sounds almost like a reaction to the jerky, noisy and abrupt songwriting decisions of especially 'Hail Horror Hail'. This time around, Sigh will present an idea and run with it - unfortunately often too long. The material really hones in on their 80s influence, with blackened traditional metal reigning supreme. Sadly, whenever the material transistions into one of Mirai´s other obsessions - like the pseudo-classical anime music he likes to write - the transition is abrupt and basically non-existent. It is for that reason that I do not quite share the love for 'Imaginary Soniscape'. There is many a great idea on here, but the way they´re arranged, the whole is less than the sum of its parts.
Rating: 6/10.
Sigh - Gallows Gallery
Genre: Avantgarde Blackened Power Metal?
Label: Candlelight Records
Year: 2005
I like the nonsense tales that Sigh tell to distract from poor decisions. Sigh spread the rumor that they recordedthis album using Japanese World War II sonic weaponry techniques, althought they later admitted to this being not the case. . The rumour was circulated firstly to excuse the poor final master (and what a poor master it is) and also because Century Media refused to distribute the album. Apparently Century Media was promised a black metal release. What they instead got was...this. 'Gallows Gallery' is a little tricky to describe in the usual genre terms. Sigh drops the blackened element almost completely on here and instead focuses on traditional and power metal influences, imbued with the usual symphonic weirdness and maybe a little bit of 70s prog. The flipside of the coin: There are basically no growls on this album and Sigh instead opt for a painfully bad clean vocal performance.
Surprisingly, this does not ruin the album for me. I just get used to the vocal performance after a while. Neither does the horrible master, as the album has since been remastered and sounds better than any Sigh album that came before. I can understand not liking 'Gallows Gallery' and I can certainly understand Century Media in that they just didn´t get what they paid for. I do think that Sigh made their best album up to that point though, with the songs having much more logical, and honestly more straightforward, song structures. Some of the abrupt or even nonexistent transitions remain, but overall Sigh write songs on here like they haven´t before. I especially like the trad soloing on here that is always as attention grabbing as it is tasteful. While the vocals prevent me from giving it a score that is any higher, I can safely say that this is the first Sigh album I enjoyed in full.
Rating: 7/10
Sigh - Hangman´s Hymn: Musikalische Exequien
Genre: Avantgarde Black / Thrash Metal
Label: The End Records
Year: 2007
Sigh return with yet another shift in style and yet another overwrought album concept which I neither really understand nor really care much to delve deeper into. Apparently this is based on the roman catholic requiem in some way? Anyway, after Sigh showed us how they would sound if they were a whacked out Power Metal Group, they now pay tribute to the Thrashers of old. 'Hangman´s Hymn' is a Thrash metal record which Mirai then slapped his symphonic schtick on. This means that the songs are short, rarely have B-Sections that completely vary in style and often have symphonic sections which could be entirely ommitted. If this sounds critical of the album, I am. In theory. In practice, 'Hangman´s Hymn' is as stupid as it is fun.
Sigh still lack the mental block for anything that would be considered too much or corny elsewhere. For example, we get an impish laugh multiple times throughout the album. It could make me cringe, but for some reason, I find it too funny to take issue with it. Same thing with the length of the album - this is the shortest Sigh album there is, and yet I feel like it could probably have a song or two shaved off. The material is just much simpler and would perform better on a 30 minute runtime. The simplicity becomes too simplistic in the drums, which are just contempt of playing skank beats without any fills with 16 bars at a time in some songs, but to be fair, they make up for it with the wonderful trashcan sound of the snare. 'Hangman´s Hymn' is weird, and I don´t know how much of the experiment works; some parts lean too far into the pirate and/or disney aspects of the sigh sound, for sure. But in the end, I can forgive it for the strange amount of fun I am having. A guilty pleasure?
Rating: 7/10.
Sigh - Scenes from Hell
Genre: Avantgarde / Symphonic Black Metal
Label: The End Records / MORT Productions
Year: 2010
Sigh always improved incrementally and every album has been a move in the right direction. 'Scenes from Hell', however, seems to both make a step forward and backwards. For the good things first: Sigh have made the first album where there is, at no point, an actual issue in the songwriting. Each instrument is well placed, they play together and interact and the guitars do more than your usual Symphonic Metal act - not just strumming muted 8th notes and even playing the occasionally brilliant solo. The fact that Sigh is still very openly inspired by traditional Metal is really helpful as they can resist going into a trem fest. Sigh are really just a traditional metal band with growls that occasionally (or very often) will randomly switch genres. I like that.
Unfortunately, I find that the production on 'Scenes from Hell' is a step back. The album exists in two versions, the version on MORT Productions having an alternate master. While this master fixes a lot of the issues on the album (The The End Records versions guitars being basically inaudible, for example) it cannot fix all of them. Even the MORT Productions master has a rather muffled sound. I know that mixing so many different instruments that only come in for a short amount of time is no easy feat, but it just limits my enjoyment of the album. If the album was as vibrant and lively as its predecessor, I would easily go even higher in the score.
Rating: (high) 7/10.
Sigh - In Somniphobia Genre: Avantgarde Black Metal / Symphonic Metal Label: Tanglade Ltd / Candlelight records Year: 2012
'In Somniphobia' is probably the best Sigh record in many ways. Both compositionally and production-wise, this is likely their peak. I think compositionally, it helps that Sigh stick to single themes for their songs more often rather than rapidly switching between bonkers genre-bending fusions as much as before. 'Far Beneath the In-Between' is a good example, as it clearly has a cinematic direction to it. The song transitions from heavy brass and distorted single-note guitar lines, that evoke a seedy strip club and a detective spending time in it, to almost oriental saxophone maybe invoking snake dancing and a bazaar. Masterfully, this is achieved with mostly the same orchestral timbres - purposeful orchestration and good songwriting. Also, the lead guitars feel much tighter than they did before. Production wise, everything is clear and again, purpose is found in the choices. Rarely do instruments sound muffled or compete for space, as they did so often before. A mix this diverse and yet so packed with content and different timbres can´t have been easy to achieve. The only small issues wirth the album are the length and the pacing issues that result from the structure of the album. The album opens with two unrelated tracks, 7 tracks that form a suite in the middle, and then 2 more unrelated tracks. None of the tracks are bad, but the pacing is odd and the album feels a little long, even if it never gets boring. Maybe having only the suite be the album and releasing the other 4 tracks as an EP would have been a better move. Still, I can´t Sigh too much if my main criticism is that there is too much of a good thing. So far, this is my favorite Sigh album - and I suspect it might not be beaten. Rating: 8/10.
Sigh - Graveward
Genre: Avantgarde Black Metal / Blackened Traditional Metal / Symphonic Black Metal
Label: Tanglade Ltd / Candlelight Records
Year: 2015
I was very excited for this revisit of 'Gravewards', as Mirai´s concept for the album was that it is inspired by the italian Prog Rock Horror Scores of the 70s and 80s. Sigh doing Goblin? Sign me up. Frankly, I think the concept is not immediately noticeable without knowing, as Sigh already shares quite a few elements with italo Prog anyway. But that also means that the marriage of styles feels natural and just works. In fact, I would say this is Sigh´s catchiest albums with vocal lines like "We Were Born In Hell!" being as catchy as they are cheesy. Other highlights are Mikannibals androgynous vocals and the traditional metal guitar solos, which are among the best Sigh have ever had.
It is a shame that Mirai doesn´t like this album as much as I do. Mirai would later becry the heavy sample usage of the album and, [Spoiler], would try to overcorrect into the different direction on the next release. However, I think that Mirai actually nails the feeling of the album and he has never used sampling and classical quotation to as much effect as he did on 'Graveward'. The album appears as a more functional version of many things he tried to do early on, like the chaos of 'Hail Horror Hail' or the blackened USPM of 'Gallows Gallery'. And while the production is a step down from 'In Somniphobia', it really doesn´t detract much from my enjoyment.
Rating: 8/10.
Sigh - Heir to Despair
Genre: Avantgarde Black Metal
Label: Candlelight Records
Year: 2018
Sigh´s final album, as far as I am concerned, is a mixed bag. Lets start with the visual direction: This is my favorite Sigh cover and also probably one of my favorite album covers of the decade. There is something about the subtle horror lurking in the image which seems rather innocuous at first, which gets more and more wrong and disturbing as you look. If only that quality would translate to the music. 'Heir To Despair' doesn´t really live up to the cover, sadly. I don´t know if it is because, yet again, Sigh decide to become less heavy. Most stuff on 'Heir To Despair' definetely doesn´t qualify as black metal with a lot of it flat out not being metal at all.
Strangely, it is the most metal tracks on 'Heir to Despair' which seem to disappoint me the most. The first half of the album is heavily tinged with stereotypical oriental music and instrumentation. The material seems like it is never really firing up and while a lot of Sigh´s oeuvre can be criticised for being too unfocused, sections on the front half of 'Heir To Despair' go on for too long - and even my appreciation for Mario 64 Lava Level type music can´t quite help it. However, as soon as the Heresy Suite begins, the album wins me over. The electronic, almost trip-hoppy experimentation of the suite is a breath of fresh air and somehow, the tracks after it do posess more of that energy that Sigh bring on their best albums. 'Heir To Despair' is a good analogy for the bands discography as a whole - often frustrating, but with many unique and singular ideas being presented. Even if frustrating, Sigh was a good discog run.
Rating: 6/10.
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