Bear 1817 Posted August 18, 2018 Quote I haven't posted about the new album "Heir to Despair" for a while, it will be coming later this year. The official announcement should be made. There should be some other killer releases by us this year. That's interesting. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kuyashii 124 Posted August 18, 2018 Wasn' expecting to see them here! They're pretty kickass! I haven't heard all of their albums yet but I really liked what I've heard (Scenes from Hell, In Somniphobia and Graveward. Oshima is a pretty great dude as well, he sent me a friend request on FB after I complimented him when the band announced he joined them. He even likes my posts sometimes Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Heroin 53 Posted August 24, 2018 Not too long ago I found my favorite Sigh record 😁 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bear 1817 Posted August 24, 2018 Very nice. Gallows Gallery are by far the best heavy/power metal album ever, and easily the most underrated metal album ever. Such a unique and catchy album. 1 kuyashii reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Heroin 53 Posted August 24, 2018 It is! I chant with the vocals, which are very unique to me. hell, the band itself is underrated. From all the people I know, only one person knows em'. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kuyashii 124 Posted August 24, 2018 Mirai's cleans on that album sound a lot like Vanishing Vision/Blue Blood era Toshi Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bear 1817 Posted September 25, 2018 This is interesting. Sigh is gonna participate in a Death SS tribute, and considering how fucking amazing their Bathory song was I cannot wait to hear their contribution to this. I hope they've made it very Sigh-esque, like they did with the Bathory cover. There's some other interesting bands here too. I already know a few of them (Denial of God, Watain, Bulldozer, Evil Spirit, Anael and Procession), but I am really keen on hearing some of the others. L'Impero delle Ombre, Sacro Sanctus, Il Segno del Comando, Epitaph and The Mugshots feat Mortiis could be interesting too. Especially Il Segno del Comando, Sacro Sanctus and L'Impero delle Ombre. But of course, Sigh is by far the most interesting here as they can be able to match the original song. 1 Crube reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bear 1817 Posted September 29, 2018 (edited) Amazing song. The intro is so fucking good, and the rest of the song doesn't exactly drop in quality either. Production sounds spot on for this album too. I love how heavy/power metal-esque it is, without really bearing any resemblance to Gallows Gallery. The intro and outro sounds like classic 80's Iron Maiden, just miles better of course. Edited September 29, 2018 by Bear Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Crube 585 Posted September 30, 2018 It's a straight forward track compared to the rest of the album, but it's already like... the auditory version of sex? Mirai even pointed out to not expect the rest of the album to sound like this track. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bear 1817 Posted September 30, 2018 I know, but thing is that Sigh and Mirai always make it work somehow and the majority of albums has that one, two or fucking five tracks that really sticks out, but yet feels as much as a part of the album as all the other tracks. So no matter how different everything else is, I'm pretty sure it'll end up feeling like they belong together and form a massive album nonetheless. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Crube 585 Posted September 30, 2018 Indeed. Either way, it couldn't come out soon enough. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bear 1817 Posted October 7, 2018 (edited) Mirai might be a weirdo (he's weird as fuck tbh), but listening to or reading interviews with him is a real pleasure. Or just watching or reading him interview other bands, which he does a lot as he's a music journalist as well. A very interesting man. I'd love to see an Amoeba What's In My Bag episode with Mirai, and the rest of the band. Think that could be interesting. Edited October 7, 2018 by Bear 1 kuyashii reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jigsaw9 6783 Posted October 8, 2018 (edited) I have huge gaps in my Sigh knowledge so I'm just getting back into them now... man, what a quality act! Previously I was only familiar with their first few albums, but everything else I've listened to so far ranges from 'pretty good' to 'amazing' so hell yeahh! Just spinned Graveward yesterday for the first time too, and while it took me a while to get used to the overall production/sound the whole thing is brilliant. I love the emphasis on all the quirky keyboards, samples and atmospherics while also being totally metal. I still have some albums I have to catch up on (mainly the last few) but my love is 100% reignited! Also I couldn't find anywhere to listen to the new track from the upcoming album as YT keeps telling me it's not available for some reason - does anyone have a link where I can peep it perhaps? Edited October 8, 2018 by Jigsaw9 1 Bear reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bear 1817 Posted October 9, 2018 Fuck me backwards! That looks gorgeous. I don't really like the idea of releasing half of a bands discography in one box set, but it looks good as fuck and the new cover to Scenario IV: Dread Dreams looks incredible. I will have to buy this, even though it includes a shitload of stuff I've already got. And if I know my stupid self right, I am gonna buy both the splatter and black version of the release. Gonna be really fucking expensive. Christmas and birthday presents for myself? Heh. €260. Christ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bear 1817 Posted October 11, 2018 I just put in an order of the splatter version. Have you pre-ordered your, you fuck? €318 Guess I won't eat any food over the next couple of months. Haha! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jigsaw9 6783 Posted October 13, 2018 Cool heavy metal melodies in this one! Also, dunno if it's just me but I couldn't really hear how Phil Anselmo is featured in this track (probably he's doing some low growls?). On another note, it's interesting to hear Sigh doing a primarily Japanese-language song, if I heard correctly. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bear 1817 Posted October 13, 2018 Yeah. Majority of the album will be in Japanese. I think Mirai's said about 90% or something. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jigsaw9 6783 Posted October 13, 2018 ^ Huh, interesting... but cool. Looking forward to it, especially since he said something like the rest of the tracks will be completely unlike this one (tho that just might have been 'promo bullshit'). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
norse_hell_wolf 6 Posted October 14, 2018 On 10/9/2018 at 7:37 AM, Bear said: Fuck me backwards! That looks gorgeous. I don't really like the idea of releasing half of a bands discography in one box set, but it looks good as fuck and the new cover to Scenario IV: Dread Dreams looks incredible. I will have to buy this, even though it includes a shitload of stuff I've already got. And if I know my stupid self right, I am gonna buy both the splatter and black version of the release. Gonna be really fucking expensive. Christmas and birthday presents for myself? Heh. €260. Christ! i could buy this who need food anyway. is there any news of the vinyl releases for heir to despair yet? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bear 1817 Posted October 24, 2018 Interesting interview with Mirai: Quote Diamond Oz: Thank you for taking the time to speak to us. Obviously the first place to start is with the new album, "Heir To Despair." You maintained for months that fans would hate the album. Why is this? Mirai Kawashima: There is no other reason than I have been feeling so. It's not a part of promotion plan or anything. I just mean it. This is 100% my personal album. This album is not meant to please anybody including the band members. I am quite sure the other members do not get what it is about, either. So far "Homo Homini Lupus" has been published and people say they liked it, but this song is a big exception. This does not have an Asian feel or flute, which is a feature of the album. Other songs do not sound anything like HHL. If you liked HHL, that means you'd hate rest of the album. Oz: There is a trilogy of songs on the album entitled, "Heresy." Could you tell us more about this concept? Mirai: Actually this trilogy is the main reason that I keep saying fans won't appreciate the album. It has nothing to do with metal. I myself do not know what they are. I just made those songs without thinking much. I just wanted to make something druggy and evil. For Heresy II and III, I tried to imagine how schizophrenic people see and hear this world. Heresy I was remixed by David Harrow. He also remixed "The Tranquilizer Song" on "Gallows Gallery". David is one of the artists I truly respect. "Tantric Steps" by Technova, which is actually David, is one of the druggiest techno stuff I have ever heard. It's a genius work. Oz: Why did you decide to write the lyrics primarily in Japanese this time, after so many years of performing in English? Mirai: There are several simple reasons. As Japanese is my mother tongue, it is much easier for me to sing in Japanese. Obviously I can sing much better in Japanese as I do not have to care about the "accurate" pronunciation unlike I sing in English. Also I thought I'd be able to make something new with the Japanese lyrics because Japanese and English are aurally completely different. I mean, I thought I'd come up with "different" riffs and melodies if I had "Japanese" in my mind. I guess it worked well. And the simplest reason is that I almost ran out of the things I would like to say in English after 10 albums. Oz: There seems to be a Middle Eastern influence on the album. Particularly on the opening track, "Aletheia." Where did this come from? Mirai: A Middle Eastern or Indian influence is something very common in rock music. It's been tried probably since 60s and it's rather cliche. Also I myself have been into the Indian traditional music for a long time. I used to take Sitar and Tabla lessons for a while so this influence has been on every Sigh's album since "Gallows Gallery". Oz: The art work for the album is, much like your music, very striking in a unique way. The image of an everyday Japanese woman with hints of darkness behind her reminded me of Fusako Shigenobu (former leader of the left wing militant group, Japanese Red Army.) Can you explain a little more about the front cover? Mirai: The concept of the album is insanity. I've been wondering what insanity is these days. Insanity isn't often very distinctive and a line between sanity and insanity is 100% arbitrary as Foucauld said. The artwork by Eliran perfectly describes it. I sent him some Japanese psychotropic drug advertisement from 60s / 70s I love to show what kind of feel I wanted for artwork. A woman looks happy but everything else is wrong. The plant is dead and the room is a mess. This is what I consider insanity is. Look at social media. They're too busy to pretend how happy they are but you can easily tell they have huge darkness inside their mind. Oz: Some of the vocals on the album are incredibly fast, most notably "In Dreams Delusional". When writing them, did you think about how difficult it would be to perform them live? Mirai: I still remember when I heard "Hell Awaits" for the first time. I was listening to it with a lyric sheet but I could not follow it at all as Tom Araya was singing way too fast! So I always try to sing as fast as I can. I guess some song from "Hangman's Hymn" have very fast singing in English. And this time as I sang in my mother tongue, I tried to sing even faster. Well, recording the songs was much tougher that I had expected! I never thought it'd be that tough as far as I sang in Japanese, but probably Japanese does not fit the fast singing! Every letter has a vowel in Japanese so maybe it's tougher to sing fast than in English. To be honest I am not sure I can make it live... Oz: You've mentioned your dissatisfaction with the previous album, "Graveward," despite it being very popular among fans. What don't you like about it? Mirai: I am not sure if it is very popular among fans. There are a few problems about this album. During the recording, we had to fire the former guitarist, so it turned out to be a bit half-assed album. Also I must say I was into the orchestral stuff too much. And it was not a good idea to have Yuichi, our guitarist, mix the album. I'm not saying that he's a bad engineer. What I mean is it's the matter of objectivity. He played guitar on this album and he knew too much about the album. Of course he wanted to his playing heard more than anything. The album needed more objective view from outside of the band. That's why we had a Canadian engineer this time. Oz: I was fortunate enough to see you at Graspop Metal Meeting 2015. Are there any plans to return to the West any time soon? Mirai: There are some talks. I believe we will be back to Europe some time in 2019. Oz: To date, there has been no home video releases from Sigh. With such an amazing live show that so few people are lucky enough to see, would you ever consider releasing a live and/or career retrospective Blu Ray/DVD in the future? Mirai: Do you really want BD / DVD from us when you can find many live footages from us on YouTube? Maybe some people do, but I myself never ever buy live BD /DVD! Actually there are some material that can be released on BD / DVD so there's a possibility. Some very good and interesting answers during this interview. While I like Graveward very much, it's interesting to hear why he thinks as he does about the album. Also, some of the stuff said about the new album sounds so promising! 2 Crube and Jigsaw9 reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jigsaw9 6783 Posted October 24, 2018 Thanks for copying the interview! Can't wait to hear that "weird" song trilogy, haha (as well as the rest of the album). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jigsaw9 6783 Posted November 7, 2018 Album review (4.5/5) from Metalsucks: http://www.metalsucks.net/2018/11/05/album-review-nothing-can-prepare-you-for-sighs-heir-to-despair/ CAN'T WAITTTTT Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bear 1817 Posted November 7, 2018 Album of the year. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
