Sigh - Japanese Avant-Thrash Metal Band

i still think they peaked with imaginary sonicscape. new one's good, though.

yeh i thought these fellas were good for a short moment and they probably still are but then i figured i'd probably enjoy listening to iron maiden more but i didn't and then i forgot about it

ha, I honestly thought the thread title was expressing fatigue at there being yet another "japanese avant-thrash metal band"

the new one seemed a bit samey for them

Have we discussed Scenes From Hell yet? A return to form if ever I heard one.

This record is a total hoot. One of my favorites of the year. Maybe the most over-the-top thing I've ever heard. In part because of the relatively clean guitar sound, the arrangements remind me of Dead Kennedys. It's like when Jello would tell the band, "After the spaghetti western part, we're going to slog like the Red Army Chorus", but they actually had Morricone's orchestra and the Red Army Chorus there to back them up.

yep. this is crazy in a different way from Imaginary Sonicscape etc.. The artwork is awesome too:
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/reviewpics/sighnew.jpg

A lot of Sigh on Spotify http://open.spotify.com/artist/4VUguuy2qoVGDMwH1tL7Qr

would totally buy an LP by these dudes if my queue of metal shit weren't like twenty, thirty records deep right now

just bump it to the front, KSH. I'm no longer the metal fan I once was, but I feel I know a decent one when it comes out and this is a proper romp.

i think his queue is fine

that artwork is ridiculously great, tbh, and makes me want to hear that record even more

dog latin, if you don't mind my asking, why do you say you're "no longer the metal fan [you] once [were]"? what happened?

ilm got him! ;)

:-D

Well, about 2000-2003 (and a little before these times) my group of friends in Letchworth where I lived were die-hard true metallers. I used to get a bit tired of them banging on about what was "true" (Emperor, Enslaved, Manowar, Ulver etc) and what was "false" (nu-metal and its preceders plus stuff like Dimmu Borgir), and growing up I often couldn't discern what made one or the other.

Still after going round people's houses and being exposed to hours and hours of stuff, it eventually clicked. That said I couldn't get as enthralled as they did, much preferring techno, reggae, IDM, indie etc.

The stuff that I did like was the more avant/experimental/epic stuff like Ulver, Sigh, Arcturus, not so much things like Immortal or Darkthrone (a bit too dissonant and trebly for me). I also loved Electric Wizard and some of the stoner/doom stuff. Still I never felt I truly identified with it all and it was more to do with having to learn to enjoy it rather than it being something instantly appealing.

When I left to go and live in neighbouring Hitchin I didn't see that crew quite as much and they all went separate ways. The guys I shared a house with really didn't like metal at all and would actively complain or take the piss if I put it on, so I eventually stopped keeping up with it due to lack of exposure.

Nowadays, I have a lot of metal on my HD but I seldom listen unless I'm in a particular mood. I'd like to get back into it and was saying to my gf I may attempt to get back into metal. Sigh's album is definitely helping, and also, strangely, Rodrigo Y Gabriela's stuff is reminding me of why I did like a lot of it.

My review of Imaginary Soundscape is here:

http://www.emusic.com/album/Sigh-Imaginary-Sonicscape-MP3-Download/10998906.html

Couldn't really get into the new album, though. (Didn't try that hard, maybe, but I tried as hard as I thought it deserved.)

gave up on these guys a long time ago but you all have me curious.

(love imaginary soundscape btw)

xxpost

good story -- thanks for telling it, dog latin! :-)

np ksh

Alan N, as with most albums after Imaginary Sonicscape, this is Sigh trying a slightly different tack. This time they've brought in a female growler (oo-er!) who doesn't sound all that different from the regular guy. There's no more country-n-western pastiches or cod-reggae middle-eighths on this one, but it is pure medieval machine music. The employment of evil-dextrous orchestration thankfully enforces the blow rather than softens it. It manages to be grindingly violent, horrifyingly majestic but still genuinely retaining the fun factor.

sounds promising. I will give it a go. thanks!

listening to Imaginary Sonicscape for the first time in ages... still rules obviously. The weird breakdown 3:40 into "Scarlet Dream" is so insane

god I love these dorks

new one is a nice blend of taut heavy metal mixed with their more progressive tendencies. as usual. but it's REALLY fucking earwormy.

considering Hail HOrror Hail is my fav, that's a good thing.