Sigh - Imaginary Sonicscape Reissue Review

Posted by Dan Haggerty on 02.13.2009

This is some of the most f*cked up sh*t I’ve ever reviewed. But is that a bad thing?





Track Listing

01. Corpsecry - Angelfall
02. Scarlet Dream
03. Nietzschean Conspiracy
04. A Sunset Song
05. Impromptu (Allegro Maestoso)
06. Dreamsphere (Return to the Chaos)
07. Voices
08. Ecstatic Transformation
09. Born Condemend Criminal
10. Slaughtergarden Suite
I. At Dawn
II. The Dead Are Born
III. Destiny Divided
IV. Slaughtergarden
V. Aftermath
11. Bring Back the Dead
12. Requiem - Nostalgia



Current Line-Up

Mirai Kawashima - Vocals, Keyboards, Sampling, Programming, Vocoder
Shinichi Ishikawa - Guitar
Satoshi Fujinami - Bass (Also played drums (1990-2004) and guitar (1990-1992)
Junichi Harashima - Drums (2004-) (Hellchild, Gonin-Ish, Aiaibunch)
Dr. Mikannibal - Alto saxophone, Backing vocals

Collectors Information

This reissue contains 3 “bonus” tracks; however they are not really bonus tracks. They were recorded for the original 2001 release but cut by the label. The End Records is honoring the artists version by putting it back in with the reissue.


The Review


When I was given the option to check out the reissue from Sigh, I was admittedly a little more than apprehensive. Japan is not always taken seriously by metal fans, a quite undeserved reputation but that’s what happens when bands release songs in English that loose their seriousness in translation. However, I was also intrigued because Sigh has been around for awhile and is known in the underground as a source for true avant-garde music. Add in the fact they are a black metal band, or so billed at least, and I was drawn to the album with a mix of curiosity and horror.

What I heard proved both points correct.

Imaginary Sonicscape opens up, and there is a traditional metal vibe but I’m immediately wondering where the black metal is. It’s… bouncy? Black metal is about lightning fast textures while this has a certified rhythm. And that swirling keyboard has 80’s New Wave written all over it. But then Mirai’s voice hits and there is the metal scowl. Although under the rhythm it certainly lacks the venom you might expect from black metal. Wait… Was that a bridge with a hook? What the hell? OK, this isn’t extreme metal. This could be on the radio in the 80’s if it wasn’t for the vocals. It’s like a hair band stumbling through an electric fan. Well, no it couldn’t be from the 80’s due to the sampling. Yes, computerized sampling - Just tossed in as a random texture to pump up the chorus. In a black metal album?

And then you end up on a song like “Scarlet Dream” which is Rammstein with raspy singing and a rock and roll solo. Oh, but here comes a chorus of Geisha girls singing. What the hell? Well, at least the sampling makes more sense. But even that stops and you get a weird jazz-bass beat featuring Atari keyboard effects and some weird ancient Egyptian classic thing building in the background. What? The industrial metal is back to pump out the finish. Damn, what did I just hear?

Speaking of jazz, “Nietzschean Conspiracy” has a speak-easy feel to, then drops into an atmospheric cascade of keyboard washes that remind me of the soundtrack to some romantic drama; except our man is literally crooning his heart out like the best, all the world sounding like a victim of the damned thanks to those raspy scowling vocals. Yes, the dude is singing seriously with black metal vocals. I can picture him in a tuxedo on Broadway still wearing corpsepaint. Now if there was ever an image that captures the idea of this band – There you go. But I’ll be damned if it doesn’t work. Ohhhh…. A saxophone solo for a bridge! Wait a minute, there isn’t a guitar in sight on this song. There are no guitars in a song on a black metal album!

This continues in how he croons on “Voices”, which starts out with a big R&B bass beat (?!) before it becomes a cascade of ballad-y string instruments, computer generated sounds, choirs somewhere in the mix, sort of like the sound track to a Nintendo horror/romance game. It’s not a song so much as a waterfall of sounds cascading down your headphones. Cool. Oddly again, there is not a guitar in site… well except a nice guitar solo. WHERE IN THE HELL IS THE BLACK METAL. Well, his voice still has it’s “I gargled acid caw”… but how the song ends with the rolling ivories of a piano solo… it’s hard to say if this even qualifies for hard rock.

And that is when I sort of pieced this together. This isn’t just avant-garde metal, but really is more Frank Zappa in corpsepaint. It’s the man himself doing an interpretation of black metal; which means you get a bunch of everything from Zappa’s garage tossed over a loose frame of Norwegian darkness, then shoved through a meat grinder made in Tokyo and out pops Sigh. It’s like the group wrote a black metal album, and then went back and chose a bunch of different instruments to play the role of the normal ones, or various sound effects to work the textures. It had the composition of black metal, to a point (“Ecstatic Transformation” is bouncy and has a hook a hair band would admire, and it rocks!), but it’s like they have completely reinterpreted the music while trying to keep the subtle interplay that makes black metal artistic.

Accept, with how all this gets thrown at you there is nothing subtle about it at all. Instead of a guitar or keyboard you might get a piano, a video game, an orchestra, a choir, a marching band, an organ, or the kitchen sink.

Oh to hell with it, this isn’t really metal at all, but more some sort of extreme progressive rock album that features a dose of metal bits. Between the computers, synthesizers, big rock hooks or the complete lack of guitars, this is a jukebox on acid. The band can play a mean guitar (check out the awesome solo on “Born Condemned Criminal”) as well as the rest of the tools of the trade (also see the awesome keyboard solo in the same song), but their real forte is as composers and their ability to strip down your perceptions (see the music box ending with the scratchy vinyl record, all on... you guessed it, the same song!). This might require a few spins to wrap your mind around, but damn if there isn’t an infectious quality to the universe Sign creates for you. It’s not this one. I’m not even sure if it should be. But it is fun to visit.

The 411: Imaginary Sonicscape is a seriously messed up piece of musical muse. And yet, after an hour of having my expectations raped the whole vision absorbs you and turns you into a believer. This is the definition of going in with an open mind, but if you do there is a mad science that will win you over. I recommend checking this out. It’s worth hearing once just so you can say you did, but when it’s done breaking down your expectations there is also a good album worth owning. Frank Zappa in corpsepaint isn’t for everyone, but if you like art rock it is worth checking out to see if you are that one. Sign might be mad geniuses, but they are also mad geniuses.

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]