If you’re into extreme metal then Sigh need no introduction. If so, you’ll know that they’re not just the largest and best progressive black metal band in Japan, but one of the best in that entire category. Throughout a 35+ year career, core founding member Mirai Kawashima has developed the band from a more primitive, Norwegian-black-metal-influenced sound in the early days to the grandiose, baroquely-cinematic nature of their more recent work. And you’ll understand why tonight’s opportunity to see Sigh in a relatively small venue, with a relatively stripped-down three-piece band, blast through a “special old school set” of classic material from the first four releases — Scorn Defeat (1993), Infidel Art (1995), Ghastly Funeral Theatre (1997), and Hail Horror Hail (1997) — is a sold-out show.
With an early finish, seemingly so that folks can catch the football (no, really), and unfazed by the venue temperature—already somewhat akin to the apocalyptic conflagration depicted on their excellent debut album Towards Eschaton (2013)—UK black-thrashers Craven Idol waste no time delivering a razor-tight, well-crafted support set. Formed in 2005, Craven are well-established on the UK scene and, while they don’t seem to play all that frequently, are always reliable and enjoyable. Their sound tonight is well-balanced, ensuring that the detail of their intricate, harmonised riffs, controlled-but-not-too-controlled solos, galloping rhythms, and throaty-growls, are all well heard. Rasping from behind the horse skull and assorted bones adorning their mics, Craven’s frontman, known to his parents as Immolator of Sadistik Wrath, sure has a great “metal voice” that he fully commits to in-between songs, and a well-honed “evil laugh” that he dishes out freely through the show.
While I’m not overly familiar with their more recent material—I made amends after the show!—I’m pretty sure I recognise the catchy pull-off riff and punkish attack from the title track of 2021’s epic Forked Tongues album tonight, the gravelly bass opener from ‘Black Flame Divination’ (“summon the fucking flames!”); and Immolator announces their song ‘Demystification of the Fallen Idols” from their Mystifier split towards the end.
It’s a bit of a shame that, amidst the Heatwave at the End of the World, tonight’s audience is saving its mosh-energy for our headliners, as Craven deserve their aggression levels reflected back at them. But surely none would deny this as a solid set indeed.
Everyone goes wild, however, as soon as Sigh walk onstage. It’s safe to say that we all miss Dr Mikannibal, Sigh’s larger-than-life sax player and additional vocalist, who I’m sure is busy living her other life as a parent and academic (and she didn’t join Sigh until 2007 to be fair). But, even just as a core trio, Sigh do not struggle to make a melodramatic, theatrical stage spectacle. We have Mirai clad in black and gold kimono, with a white bass covered in Japanese characters; Tomotaka Ishikawa at his drums wearing a grizzly noose that glows under the spotlights; and Nozomu Wakai, the most flamboyant of all, face painted kabuki theatre style, guitar draped in rags and inked with more characters, and long curly black hair flowing wildly. Ripping straight into the doomy power chords of ‘Izuna’, with Mirai’s lightning-fast, yap-rapping syllable frenzy in fine flow, you can tell immediately it’s going to be an awesome gig. The sound’s great, the energy’s flowing, and the old school vibe and tight hour’s set-time means no one’s messing around.
My personal favourite tonight has to be ‘Hail Horror Hail’ itself: with its bursting flurry of virtuoso leads and big shout-along chorus, it’s as stirringly evil as it is supremely catchy. Although ‘Zombie Terror’ is a strong tie, galvanizing us all into another sing-along for the wordless chorus melodies, and with Nozomu dishing out another classic, epic metal solo.
As promised, Sigh’s set covers their first four superlative releases – three from Scorn Defeat, two from each of the others. Their music will always be viewed as complex, challenging, perhaps “difficult”. And perhaps accurately. But tonight, whilst watching with a decent view and great sound, I gain some rudimentary sense of their song arrangements. And they’re often, in a sense, fundamentally straightforward. On ‘Hail Horror Hail’, for example, some of Nozomu’s parts are open chords, good old-fashioned Ds, Cs, and Bbs. I’m not saying they’re easy to write or to play, but just that this emphasizes how—even with virtuoso musicians—it often boils down to a good chord progression, on which layer upon layer of other textures are built.
Perhaps this still applies to Sigh’s forthcoming album Goh-Ka, which is released later in the year (4 September, to be precise). I’m very fortunate to have heard it ahead of release, and can confirm it as their most orchestral and cinematic album to date; sounding almost entirely different to, yet just as essential as, Scorn Defeat must have done all those years ago.And that’s saying something!
Goh-Ka, a concept album about a specific Buddhist conception of the stages of a human body’s decomposition process, continues the artistic fascination with death that has characterized Mirai’s music from the outset. And Sigh’s penultimate song of the night, ‘My Funeral’ from Scorn Defeat, captures this obsession especially well; Mirai seems to sing that one with extra feeling.
The night takes a faintly surreal turn before it closes as Mirai mentions the England vs Norway football match that’s about to start, noting that black metal was not, in fact, born in Norway. A false start cannot dim the raw, messy fury that is Venom’s ‘Black Metal’, and Sigh rip through the classic track, making it their own, and coaxing a final blast of energy from this sweat-bejeweled crowd.
Sigh feel unstoppable: seldom has a band matched their consistently audacious and ambitious visions with the dedication and talent to realize them so effectively. And tonight’s show—a real jaw-dropper—reminds us where it all began.
Waiting for Setlist.fm updated setlist