is a Japanese experimental metal band from

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, formed in 1989. They gradually shifted from a traditional extreme metal sound to a more experimental,

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

style employing symphonic, world music, and

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

elements. Their most recent album, ''Shiki'', was released in 2022.

History

Sigh was founded as a Nordic-influenced

black metal Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw ( lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an em ...

band in 1989, with bassist/vocalist/keyboardist Mirai Kawashima, guitarist Satoshi Fujinami, and drummer Kazuki. The band has since experienced many lineup changes, but Kawashima and Fujinami remain in the band to the present day and each has played many different instruments. The band's first demos were recorded in 1990. Their first EP ''Requiem for the Fools'' attracted the attention of Norwegian black metal musician and producer

Euronymous Øystein Aarseth (; 22 March 1968 – 10 August 1993), better known by his stage name Euronymous, was a Norwegian musician and a founder of and central figure in the early Norwegian black metal scene. He was a co-founder and guitarist of the No ...

, who signed Sigh to his label Deathlike Silence Records. That label released Sigh's first full-length album '' Scorn Defeat'' in 1993, shortly after Euronymous's murder. The album has since been praised for its revolutionary combination of black metal with symphonic elements. Deathlike Silence Records then ceased to exist and Sigh signed with Cacophonous Records, which released their next three albums. Those albums increasingly incorporated elements from classical and

music. In 1995 Sigh contributed to a

Venom Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a ...

tribute album. After disputes with Cacophonous over promotion and album rights, the band eventually found a new home at

Century Media Records Century Media Records is a heavy metal record label with offices in the United States, Germany and London. In August 2015, Century Media was acquired by Sony Music for US$17 million. Background Century Media was founded by Robert Kampf and Oli ...

. Their 2001 album with Century Media, '' Imaginary Sonicscape'', was further praised for pioneering a new genre of surrealist black metal. Sigh later released albums under Candlelight/Baphomet Records and The End Records. Their 2007 song "Inked in Blood" from the album '' Hangman's Hymn'' was named number 31 on

Loudwire ''Loudwire'' is an American online media magazine that covers news of hard rock and heavy metal artists. It is owned by media and entertainment business Townsquare Media. Since its launch in August of 2011, ''Loudwire'' has secured exclusive ...

's list of the Top 21st Century Metal Songs. The band is featured in the 2008 documentary '' Global Metal''. By the end of that decade, the band's lineup solidified with the addition of drummer Junichi Harashima and saxophonist/backup singer Dr. Mikannibal (Mika Kawashima). Second guitarist You Oshima (formerly of Kadenzza) joined in 2014. In the 2010s, Sigh's albums continued to experiment with various genre elements, and increasingly turned toward

progressive metal Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified guitar-driven sound of the former with the more experimental, cerebral ...

. Their eleventh full-length album, ''Heir to Despair'', was released in 2018 and was noted for its incorporation of instruments and compositional styles from traditional

Japanese music In Japan, music includes a wide array of distinct genres, both traditional and modern. The word for "music" in Japanese is 音楽 (''ongaku''), combining the kanji 音 ''on'' (sound) with the kanji 楽 ''gaku'' (music, comfort). Japan is the wo ...

. Band leader Mirai Kawashima learned to play flute for this album, and it also incorporates Middle Eastern and Central Asian sounds.

Members

;Current * Mirai Kawashima () –

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of th ...

, keyboards, sampling, programming,

vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''voice'' and ''encoder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder was ...

(1989–present), woodwinds (2010–present),

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

(1989–2004, 2022–present),

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

(2004–present),

orchestral arrangements An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, ...

(2007–present) * Dr. Mikannibal (Mika Kawashima, ) – alto saxophone, vocals (2007–present) * Nozomu Wakai (望若井) –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

s (2022–present), * Satoshi Fujinami () – bass (2004–2021),

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

(1992–2004, 2008, с2015), guitar (1989–1992, 2008, с 2015), ;Former * Kazuki Ozeki () – drums (1989) * Shinichi Ishikawa () – guitars (1992–2014) * You Oshima () – guitars (2014–2021) * Junichi Harashima () – drums (2004–2021)

Discography

The band's major releases follow an

acrostic An acrostic is a poem or other word composition in which the ''first'' letter (or syllable, or word) of each new line (or paragraph, or other recurring feature in the text) spells out a word, message or the alphabet. The term comes from the Fr ...

pattern of the word "SIGH" repeated: ''Scorn Defeat'', ''Infidel Art'', ''Ghastly Funeral Theatre'', ''Hail Horror Hail'', and so on. ;Studio albums * '' Scorn Defeat'' () (1993) * ''

Infidel Art ''Infidel Art'' is the second studio album by the Japanese black metal band Sigh Paralanguage, also known as vocalics, is a component of meta-communication that may modify meaning, give nuanced meaning, or convey emotion, by using techniques suc ...

'' () (1995) * ''

Hail Horror Hail ''Hail Horror Hail'' is the third studio album by the band Sigh. It was released by Cacophonous Records originally in 1997. The album is the band's first full-length release to feature an avant-garde/experimental sound not normally associated wi ...

'' () (1997) * '' Scenario IV: Dread Dreams'' (1999) * '' Imaginary Sonicscape'' () (2001) * ''

Gallows Gallery ''Gallows Gallery'' is an album by the band Sigh. It was released by Candlelight Records originally in 2005. Background ''Gallows Gallery'' is Sigh's first album as a four-piece rather than a trio and their first album for which they made a musi ...

'' (2005) * '' Hangman's Hymn'' () (2007) * ''

Scenes from Hell ''Scenes from Hell'' is the eighth full-length studio album by the Japanese extreme metal band Sigh. It is the band's first full-length recording to feature Dr. Mikannibal. On October 15, 2009 the band posted the album cover and set January 19, 20 ...

'' (2010) * ''

In Somniphobia ''In Somniphobia'' is the ninth studio album released by Japanese extreme metal band Sigh. It was released on 13 March 2012 under the independent record label Candlelight Records. Track listing ''All music and lyrics by Mirai Kawashima except w ...

'' (2012) * ''Graveward'' (2015) * ''Heir to Despair'' () (2018) * ''Shiki'' (2022) ;EPs * ''Requiem for Fools'' (1992) * ''

Ghastly Funeral Theatre ''Ghastly Funeral Theatre'' (Japanese 葬式劇場, ''Sōshiki gekijō'') is an EP by the band Sigh. ''Ghastly Funeral Theatre'' marked the beginning of Sigh's progressive and avant-garde experimentation prior to the release of ''Hail Horror Hai ...

'' () (1997) * ''A Tribute to Venom'' (2008) * ''The Curse of Izanagi 7"'' (2010) ;Demos * ''Desolation'' (1990) * ''Tragedies'' (1990)

History

Members

Discography

References

External links