SIGH formed in 1989 and were signed to friggin' Euronymous' label. For those of you who don't know who Euronymous is, he was from this pioneering Black Metal band called Mayhem. He was killed by his bandmate (Varg Vikernes). Stabbed over twenty times they say. They weren't a very sociable bunch, those Mayhem dudes.
Not so with the guys from Sigh. Mirai Kawashima, the lead songwriter seems like a really decent chap. Either way. Euronymous' label fizzled after his death so they signed to another label and then resigned to a third label. And then a fourth. Followed by a fifth, before resigning to the third. Basically they changed labels with almost every album for their first few records before sticking to Century.
The thing about this band is they've changed their style of music as many times as they've changed labels. They started out as pretty standard Black Metal. Over the course of the 90s they slowly transitioned to a blackened thrash sound. And then came the 21st century. The band's sound evolved once more, but when I use the word evolve I don't mean it in the gradual, Darwinian sense:
but rather the Pokemon way. Like, Magikarp to Gyarados:
I did not draw that. I found it on the Internet and its some dude called Nylian's. Thanks Nylian. Nice drawing.
Simply put, the band went bonkers. They incorporated whatever the living fuck they felt like into their sound. From cowbells to saxophones and ripping organ solos, all the while maintaining Black Metal riffage. In Somniphobia has been described as Spaghetti Western Black Metal. I don't know what that means at all, but it makes so much sense when you listen to the album. It's a chaotic masterpiece.
The band has several Black Metal classics from the 90s, and several crazy metal classics from the 21st century. But with their latest album Graveward, they seem to have found a balance, at least with some of the songs. In my opinion, A Messenger From Tomorrow is Mirai's masterpiece. He boasts of having to compress over 100 GB of music (the production is a bit underwhelming and mushed over at times) and mix over 100 tracks on each song. Either way, he and the rest of the band have truly accomplished something and I hope they gain the recognition they deserve.
Here is the official video for Out Of the Grave, a crazy crazy song by a crazy crazy band.
