I've been asked not to research this album, just listen to it. This goes against my reviewing strategy and habits, but just this once I'll grant the request. Suggested by Loathsome Pete, and backed up by mythsofmetal, Mojo and bob, this is
Imaginary sonicscape --- Sigh --- 2001 (Century Media)
Recommended by Loathsome Pete (and also by mythsofmetal, bob and Mojo)
So if I'm not to look it up then I have nothing to say. Yet. Once I've heard a few tracks though you can bet I'll be Wiki-bound! But in order to honour Pete's request, I now push “play” and listen to --- oh God! ---”Corpsecry --- Angelfall”. Gulp! Well there's some great guitar work to start off, and a really rocking beat, then the vocals come in and yes, as I somehow expected, it's a harsh, gutteral, almost completely indecipherable voice that would scare the
shit out of me if I heard it at night. The music's great though, very Iron Maiden around the mid-eighties, “Number of the beast”, “Piece of mind”, that sort of thing. Looking down the tracklist I see there's a charming little number entitled “Slaughterhouse suite” that runs for, wait for it, just short of thirteen minutes! Oh dear. Still, vocals aside, if the music is all this good then that may not be a bad thing. Great solos here (damn! It really feels like I'm writing with one hand tied behind my back, not being able to tell you who these guys are, where they come from, who's playing what etc, but hell I'll play along for a few tracks).
Lot of screaming going on here, and I note that few of the tracks are below five minutes, other than one which is just over one, and I feel may be an instrumental or some sort of interlude. Now that definitely sounds like keys, like an organ coming in there. I hate the vocals but I love the music. Could do without the screams. Have I mentioned I hate the vocals? I hate the vocals. Were this a better, or more suited to me, singer, I think I would really like this album, and we're only on the first track. Big string-style outro in the last minute, that took me totally by surprise. Very nice indeed.
“Scarlet dream” definitely has some keyboard in it, and it's a slower, hard rock cruncher with some sort of echoey vocoder effect on the backing vocal. Hammering guitars, of which I assume there are two, as one is soloing while the other keeps the basic rhythm and melody going. The thing I will give the singer is that his vocals (I obviously assume it's a male) don't come too far up in the mix, aren't drowning out the music or screaming and shouting all over it. You can kind of listen to them in the background, even though they're gutteral. Now they're going into some odd sort of reggae rhythm led by keys and what sounds like a harpsichord, but almost surely is not. In the vocal I can make out
”Born in Heaven and raised in Hell”, which is a pretty clever line.
Sounding like something on a jazz album next, “Nietszchean conspiracy” starts slow and moody, with synthy sound effects and strings, a slow, kind of handclap drumbeat. Very atmospheric. I like this. In fact, so far I like everything on this album. Other than the vocals, but I'm even coming to either appreciate or just get used to them. This track sort of reminds me of a Diablo String Orchestra tune; very avant-garde. Great organ solo just adds to the flavour of the track, quite bluesy and then I think that's a sax sliding in too.
You know, the more I listen to this guy the more I begin to think of him as a heavy metal Tom Waits: it's not that his voice is all that gutteral or rough, it's just gravelly and hoarse. I really liked that track, favourite so far. “A sunset song” opens like an ELO semi-ballad, which is weird, though I'm getting used to the “w” word characterising this album. Superb little digital piano run totally contrasts with the harsh vocal, sort of lounge style. Great hooky guitar part, and when I said “Nietszchean conspiracy” was my favourite, well it is, but this comes a close second. After the next track I'm going to start researching Sigh, because I want to know more about them, and I think going in blind, while it has been an experience, has served its purpose now and I've kept my promise.
That short track I spoke of is next, and marks the midpoint of the album. Clocking in at a mere one minute twenty-five seconds, “Impromptu (allegro meastoso)” seems to be a solo piece on the piano, absolutely beautiful, belongs on a classical album really. I have got to find out who these guys are, and after this I'm going to. “Dreamsphere (Return to the chaos)” is a slower, more dramatic piece with strings and choral vocals but some bitchin' (Copyright: The Batlord Enterprises MMXIII) guitar too, then it speeds up and there's one hell of a synth solo. Now I can run to Wiki and I find first of all that these guys are Japanese. Well that's interesting and a surprise. Seems the vocalist, Mirai Kawashima, also does those incredible keys, as well as handling the vocoder, woodwinds, sampling and arranging the orchestral parts. So there is an orchestra! Sounded like it.
They've been going since 1989 (!) and the guitars on this album are handled by Shinichi Ishikawa, who has since left the band, with Satoshi Fujinami looking after both sides of the rhythm section, playing bass and drums, as well as a lot of other stuff. This is their fifth of ten albums, marking therefore the midpoint in their career, and as William York of Allmusic remarks, this is an “amazing, weird album and the best place for newcomers to start with this band.” I concur, on the first part anyway; don't know about the second, though Wiki says that Sigh began life as an extreme black metal band, so perhaps their earlier stuff may not suit me. We're now into that eleven-minute composition I spoke of earlier, and having got totally into this album I now no longer fear or dread “Slaughterhouse suite”: in fact, I'm looking forward to it.
It opens on atmospheric keys and sort of zinging sounds, with what sounds like a hammer and anvil ringing in the background. When Mirai comes in with the vocal there's strings accompaniment, and it's slow and dark, with the sort of a feeling of a haunted house about it. Amazingly, it's advanced to five minutes in and it doesn't feel anything like it. This eleven minutes (almost) is going to go in a lot faster than I expected. Lots of orchestral ideas here, still reminds me a lot of the earlier work of ELO, then something like the soundtrack to a ballet takes over in minute six, with wedding bells tolling, very Russian/Eastern European feeling to that before Shinichi comes back in with the guitar and Mirai manages to arrange an effect on the vocals I have only heard before achieved by Vangelis on his “Oceanic” album. Just superb.
Something like a vibraphone then comes in as the guitar churns away, then a full keyboard run develops as we head to the ninth minute, and I could really wish this was longer, which is in no way something I had expected to be saying! Suddenly there's a jump and with the sound of an old crackly record we have a lovely piano solo, very slow with organ on the fringes of it. This sound is lovingly created to sound just like an old, damaged vinyl album and it's perfect. It takes us right to the end as “Bring back the dead” howls in on a big hard guitar chord and rippling synth, a real rocker jumping with energy and passion, and it has a great hook in it too. I'll be honest: I don't see one single bad track here and as we head towards the end of this incredible album I'm not expecting any.
And no, there isn't. “Requiem nostalgia” becomes another standout, with an operatic opening and then some fine vocoder work by Mirai as well as some stellar drumming and what may or may not be flute. Also, we get “proper” vocals for the first time, and by gum, this guy can sing! If any of the songs on this album deserve the description of Doom Metal, I think this one qualifies. Oh dear god no! Don't tell me it's over! Sigh (pun intended): it is. What an incredible ride!
TRACKLISTING
Corpsecry --- Angelfall
Scarlet dream
Nietszchean conspiracy
A sunset song
Impromptu (allegro maestoso)
Dreamsphere (Return to the chaos)
Ecstatic transformation
Slaughterhouse suite
Bring back the dead
Requiem nostalgia
Not so long ago, the “old” me would have thought this was great up to the point the vocals began, and then switched off. Thankfully, I've managed to broaden my outlook a little now and can take death vocals in small doses, and also so many people recommended this album there had to be something in it. As I got used to the vocal I was aware of something amazing unfolding before my ears. It's been a long long time since I've been so totally blown away by a band, and the moreso that it's a Japanese avant-garde Black Metal one!
If you took the best elements and ideas within DSO and Theatre des Vampires, you still wouldn't scratch the surface of how great this album is, and I certainly intend to delve deeper into their later music. Thanks guys for the rec and for turning me on to Sigh; they just gained another fan, and another voice has been added to the chorus shouting “You have
got to hear this album!”