Reviews for Sigh - Imaginary Sonicscape:
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Sigh, if you've never heard of them, is a Japanese band who started out as a progressive black metal band with horror-themed music, and a heavy 80s metal influence. Their second full length, Hail Horror Hail, brought them a cult following and they set a name for themselves in terms of weirdness and experimentalism. Their fourth full-length album, this one, finds them basically shedding any sort of trace of black metal, minus, perhaps, Mirai's growls. Everything else is basically an attack on the senses. They use real 70s keyboards on this album, like the Hammond organ, and moogs, to create a wonderful, ethereal atmosphere. That paired with Mirai's growls is a pretty weird arrangement, and that's about the only thing that might seem hard to get used to at first, as that sort of music might seem better off without black metal growls. But once you get used to it, however (I didn't have any sort of problem - I had been training myself with their previous effort, Dread Dreams, and by the time this had arrived, I was actually quite fond of both the music and the growls), it won't seem quite as weird, and it'll actually prove quite awesome. All the songs are enjoyable, although some stick to your memory cells more than others. Like Scarlet Dream, for example, which has a reggae dub break right in the middle of the song, or Impromptu, which is an awesome classical piano piece, or the 10 minute epic, Slaughtergarden Suite, which has some of the best keyboard soloing ever (and I ALWAYS feel weird when it gets cut off by the Aftermath part... it just feels like "AWWW NOOOOOO, WHY THE HELL DID YOU HAVE TO CUT IT OFF??!>?@?!", it's that good), or Requiem - Nostalgia, which has some weird, but awesome sounding male vocals on the chorus. If you haven't noticed already, this album tends to throw everything and the kitchen sink at you, every chance it gets. It keeps you on your toes on every listen. It basically DEMANDS attention from you. I'll stress on it again: this album does NOT have the cheap Casio keyboards 90% of the black metal bands tend to have. These are "serious" keyboards, giving the sound a very polished and "mature" feel I guess. To actually understand what I'm saying compare some more keyboard-oriented black metal, like, say... Emperor's Opus A Satana or some of the Dimmu Borgir stuff to see a real difference between the keyboard sound... It's no comparison, really... This one is worlds removed from that sort of thing, giving a lush and almost "warm" feeling to the music. It's really great. I love what they did with that. In the end, I'd recommend this album to any open-minded fans, even those who don't like metal, as the only hard part they'll go through is adjusting to the vocals. The rest is quite easy to assimilate. Again, if you fancy yourself to be open minded, give these guys a listen and put your imagination to the test. Review by: Smekermann Wow!!!!!!!!! Can't top the above review, it says it all about Sigh. This is one of two albums I own by the band, the other being "Dread Dreams". Yes, if you like experimentation in your music, these Japanese artists will satisfy like no other. Call it a mix of jazz/thrash/death/doom with a little progressive fiddling thrown in for good measure. The voice may be hard to take at first listen, but it's not the voice you want to hear, its the interplay going on all over this disc. Oh, and their is also some femme vox thrown in for spice. Review by: DENNIS R. i find this album to be one of the most bizzare that the metal scene has to offer. it is there for another stand out favoret among my piles of coaster worthy cds.its like conventional thrash with lots of jazzy keys & synths so spacey you can almost hear an acid trip in your head a handful of solos saturated with disco beets violns and classical pianst workings oh and wait till you hear the ending hahaha plus the shromm eating basterds our from japan.a psycedelic metalic extasy Review by: bill great album, experimental yet combining the best of various styles. hard to sit through though, if you're not used to the unortodox style. a masterpiece. Review by: astathica I love the synth, keyboard, and guitar completely together. This is an odd masterpiece in my opinion, I want to check out other albums like this. 9.5/10 Would be perfect if it was just a tad more Black Metalish? Review by: Eradicate		Use the textarea below to write your review of this album. Please obey to these rules: - Write the review in ENGLISH! - Do not ask or offer mp3's - Reviews of 5 words or less are no reviews - Do not flame other reviewers. Use the forum for that If you do not follow these rules your review will NOT be added. Username: Password: (To get a username and password you have to register.)
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