Sigh

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sigh
General information
Genre (s) Black metal , avant-garde
founding 1990
Website http://www.myspace.com/sighjapan
Founding members
Mirai Kawashima
Satoshi Fujinami
Kazuki Ozeki (until 1990)
Current occupation
Vocals, bass, keyboards
 Mirai Kawashima
Guitar (1989–1992), drums (1992–2004), bass (2004 - today)
 Satoshi Fujinami
guitar
 Shinichi Ishikawa (since 1992)
Drums
 Junichi Harashima (since 2004)
Backing vocals, saxophone
 Dr. Mikannibal (since 2007)

Sigh ( English for 'sigh') is a Japanese band from Tokyo , which until about 1997 belonged to Black Metal , from 2001 they took over some elements of the avant-garde and film music .

Band history

In May 1990, school friends Mirai Kawashima ( bass , vocals , keyboards ), Satoshi Fujinami ( guitar ) and Kazuki Ozeki ( drums ) founded the band Sigh. They mainly played thrash-metal- influenced Black Metal in the style of Venom , Sodom and early Bathory . After a few appearances as a cover band , they recorded their first demo Desolation . After that, Kazuki separated from the young band due to musical differences. The two remaining musicians went on alone, Mirai also took over the drums. In December 1990 the second demo Tragedies, containing two songs, was released . In 1991 Wild Rags released a CD version of the demo.

In 1992 the EP Requiem for Fools was released by Wild Rags and caught the attention of Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth , who signed Sigh on his Deathlike Silence Productions label . As the band moved closer to the Norwegian black metal scene, they also adopted visual traits like corpsepaint , guns, and rivets . Musically, too, it approached the "second wave" of Black Metal. After Shinichi Ishikawa joined as a new guitarist, work began on the debut album Scorn Defeat , which was completed in 1993. Satoshi started playing the drums from now on. The release was delayed by the murder of Euronymous, but the rights holder Voices of Wonder finally released the album in the fall of 1993. The symphonic keyboard passages, which were present alongside the fast-paced Thrash Metal, anticipated much of what Emperor and Cradle might have of Filth later included in their music.

In 1994 Sigh took part in the Far East Gate compilation in Inferno and in a split -7 '' with the Greek band Kawir . The label Voices Productions, which belongs to the German fanzine Voices from the Darkside , also released a cassette with Venom cover versions . In 1995 the second album Infidel Art was released on the British label Cacophonous Records . In addition to a live album and various EPs, two split releases were planned for 1997, one with her fellow countrymen Abigail and one with the Swedish band Vergelmar, but these did not materialize.

The third work Hail Horror Hail showed the band changed. It was a concept album that was supposed to describe a horror film that was never made. In addition to typical black metal, influences from 1970s hard rock , 1980s heavy metal and even jazz were used. Elements of the film music were also added. Influences from both John Williams ' Star Wars theme and David Lynch's Eraserhead can be heard. On this album, Sigh also did without the corpse paint. Due to the change in style and poor promotion , Sigh then tried to switch to Century Media , but were still tied to Cacophonous for an album.

After a few tours, the farewell work for Cacophonous Scenario IV: Dread Dreams was created in 1999 , which showed a further musical improvement. Again a bit more in the Metal genre, the album combined other elements, including: a. from the field of classical music , John Zorn and country music . Guest singers like Killjoy from Necrophagia , King Fowley from Deceased… and Damien Montgomery from Ritual Carnage also took part in the album. Nevertheless, there was no promotion of their old record company, which they left immediately afterwards for Century Media.

Imaginary Sonicscape was released in 2001, refining her style further and is often referred to as her best work. In addition to the previous sound experiments, a further focus was placed here with psychedelic rock .

In 2004, Junichi Harashima von Hellchild, a permanent drummer, joined the group. Gallows Gallery , the group's fifth studio album, now lacked all black metal elements and, with its clear vocals, was based more on traditional heavy metal of the 1980s. Century Media, who did not agree with this direction at all, parted ways with Sigh. In 2005 they finally found two distribution partners with Candlelight Records and Baphomet Records. Guest guitarists were Gus G. ( Firewind , ex- Arch Enemy , ex- Dream Evil ), Niklas Sundin ( Dark Tranquility ), Paul Groundwell ( Thine ) and Gunface ( The Red Chord ). For the spoken passages, Killjoy and Metatron (from The Meads of Asphodel ) appeared as narrators.

After some delays, the album Hangman's Hymn was released in 2007 , this time focusing on classical music and influenced by composers as diverse as Richard Wagner , Gustav Mahler and Anton Bruckner . The American record company The End Records released the album. With Dr. Mikannibal joined a saxophonist in the same year .

In 2009 the band announced a new album called Scenes from Hell , the artwork of which was done by Eliran Kantor . It will be released on January 29, 2010 via The End Records and include contributions from David Tibet ( Current 93 ) and Kam Lee ( Massacre ), among others .

Today, Sigh's style is mainly compared to the Czechs Root and Master's Hammer .

Projects

Mirai Kawashima took part in numerous projects and is active in various bands. Together with Shinchi and two members of Abigail, he formed the thrash metal band Cutthroat from 1999 . Together with Killjoy from Necrophagia, he founded the Enoch project in the same year, in which Phil Anselmo also participated. In 2002 he also joined Necrophagia as a permanent keyboardist. He is also involved in The Meads of Asphodel. Shinichi Ishikawa is also a session guitarist for Abigail.

Discography

Demos

  • 1990: Desolation
  • 1990: Tragedies

Albums

EPs and split releases

  • 1992: Requiem for Fools (EP, Wild Rags Records )
  • 1994: Sigh / Kawir (split EP with Kawir , Cacophonous Records)
  • 1995: To Hell and Back - Sigh's Tribute to Venom (MC, Voices Productions)
  • 1997: Ghastly Funeral Theater (MCD, Cacophonous Records)
  • 2003: Kindred of a Dying Kind / Young Burial (Split EP with Necrophagia , Red Stream Records)
  • 2004: Evilized Japan (split EP with Abigail , Gatefold Records)
  • 2008: A Tribute to Venom (EP, The End Records)
  • 2010: The Curse of Izanagi (EP, KVLT)
  • 2011: Swine of Hades (Split EP with Taake , The Meads of Asphodel, Thus Defiled, Evo / Algy, Godreah Records)

Live albums

  • 1997: The Eastern Force of Evil; Live '92 -'96 (Order of Death)
  • 2013: Scorn Defeat 20th Anniversary Gig (Mort Productions)

Sampler contributions

  • 1994: The Zombie Terror on Far East Gate in Inferno (Evil Records)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hail Horror Hail in the All Music Guide
  2. ↑ Scenario IV: Dread Dreams in the All Music Guide
  3. ↑ a b musicmight.com: Biography  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.musicmight.com  
  4. ↑ Imaginary Sonicscape at All Music Guide
  5. ↑ Biography. The Slaughtergarden, August 9, 2007, archived from the original January 17, 2008 ; accessed on October 16, 2015 .
  6. ↑ SirLordDoom: SIGH - Scenes from hell ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , November 20, 2011, accessed July 4, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.metal-district.de

Web links