86. Sigh - Imaginary Sonicscape (2001)
Genre: Avant Garde Metal/ Black Metal/ Symphonic/ Progressive Metal
Corpsecry - Angelfall
Scarlet Dream"
Nietzschean Conspiracy
A Sunset Song"
Impromptu (Allegro Maestoso)
Dreamsphere (Return to the Chaos)
Ecstatic Transformation
Slaughtergarden Suite
Bring Back the Dead
Requiem - Nostalgia
To most people, black metal is a product of the Scandinavian countries (Norway in particular) that has a controversial history and is esoteric to the extreme. It's a genre that is clouded in arson, anthropic/ anti religious lyrics, murders, and national socialist undertones made infamous by a small group of loud di
ckheads. Those reasons are enough to turn off most people from the genre, but in doing so they miss out on an incredibly atmospheric and intense style of music. The next two reviews are for two albums in particular that have done the best to show just how versatile and amazing this genre can be when done properly.
First up is the 2001 epic masterpiece
Imaginary Sonicscape by Japanese metal band Sigh. Japanese metal isn't very well known outside of Japan, the only other band that I can even name is Japan X and I do so with great disdain. ANYWAYS Sigh is a band that has been around for 20 years now and has been continually experimenting with their sounds, trying to create new styles and sounds.
Imaginary Sonicscape was their first real success in doing so, but it wasn't their first attempt. Since 1997's
Hail Horror Hail they had been experimenting with new things, moving away from their black metal roots, but
Imaginary Sonicscape was where they really hit their stride.
The only thing black metal about the album is really the vocal style, and even then it sounds nothing like more of the "true" black metal music from places like Norway. The drumming is not particularly black metalish, meaning there's no extended blast beats or high snare pounding, yet everything is pieced together nicely. I don't know if band went in expecting the album to sound like this and just adjusted accordingly, but whatever the reason is they readjusted their sound accordingly.
With all the differing sound styles present on the album it is easy to look at it as some kind of patchwork monster, and thus it being this ugly monstrosity. This is one of the ONLY times when I think all the music shifts work better than just sticking to one style. There's only a few select artists out that I would see take on such a task and not fu
ck it up, and Sigh are one of them. At any moment one song could be a heavy set with the harsh vocals, then all of a sudden there's a soothing orchestral section, or some kind of weird synthesized sound, and then some kind of corny guitar solo you would expect off a Guns 'N Roses album, oh and then just for sh
its and giggles they'll throw in some operatic male vocals along with a folky recorder. Yeah the album is that over the place.
This is easily the best starting point for beginners to Sigh and I would even venture a great entry point for newbies to extreme metal. The vocals are harsh, but not as harsh as bands like Nile so they don't immediately deter neonates to extreme metal. An astonishingly amazing album from a country I would not expect such an album to come from and single handedly proves that you don't need to be Scandinavian to make good metal.
(Shamelessly stolen from gunnels): It's like a raging, sweaty disco was sucked into hell, drugged, and sent back into the world.