Sigh – Scenes From Hell (2010)

Sigh is a avant garde heavy metal band from Japan. Their latest creation is Scenes From Hell which is their 8th album. Lacking experience in listening to Sigh I was completely caught of guard for the theatrical sound of this band. It ate my soul, spat it out and devoured it yet again. This album is filled with unusual instrument, orchestral pieces and still has a definite black metal feeling with shredding guitars and some blastbeats. This is also the one problem of the record. I really had to get the hang of the layers of music being used in this production. Especially in the first two songs (Prelude To The Oracle and L’art de Mourir) I really had to keep my wits together and my ears open to keep on hearing the very detailed sound of this album and not get lost in this barrage of sound. In these two songs the vocals tend to get blasted away by the rest. This does not matter much though as the songs are well composed and the production value is great.
Another piece to remember is the song “The Summer Funeral” which is the 5th song of the album. It has the feeling of a classical waltz composed by a bunch of freaky black metal dudes (and dudette).
It all ends in a surprisingly upbeat and catchy sound in the 8th and title track “Scenes of Hell”.

Conclusion:
This is an album that will probably end up in my top 10 of 2010. It has a sound which makes me want to listen to the whole album from beginning to end. The songs on the album fit together really well without songs becoming indistinctive. If you can punch through the wall of sound and are able to listen to a really theatrical piece of music, PLEASE listen to this. I recommend this to all black metal listeners.

Playlist:
1. Prelude to the Oracle
2. L’art de Mourir
3. The Soul Grave
4. The Red Funeral
5. The Summer Funeral
6. Musica in Tempora Belli
7. Vanitas
8. Scenes from Hell

Band:
Mirai Kawashima - Vocals, Keyboards, Orchestrations etc
Dr. Mikannibal - Alto Saxophone, Vocals
Satoshi Fujinami - Bass
Shinichi Ishikawa - Guitar
Junichi Harashima - Drums

Link:
Sigh

By: Roel