Sigh
Hail Horror Hail
[Cacophonous]
To say this album blew me away would be a major understatement - there are
a million things that I could say about it, but none of them would do it
justice...this release is so far ahead the pack, they cant even see the
smoke trail.
On this release, Sigh manage to do things that if attempted by any other band, would make them look (at best) completely ridiculous. I'm sure you've read a lot of reviews for records that use the terms "majestic", or "symphonic", or "orchestrated" - forget it...Hail Horror Hail makes them look about as majestic as lego castles. This is the epitome of black metal as art. A lot of bands these days use synths - 90% of the time, it's a useless endeavor, not adding anything to the music itself, and quite often detracting from it. Then there is the other 10%, where the synth is actually an integral part of the music, and not just added in as an afterthought - Sigh are of that ilk.
Describing the music on this CD in a traditional way would be next to impossible - most of the songs presented here jump from one extreme to another..from straight ahead blackened metal, to "rocking" traditional metal passages, to synth only orchestrated bits, and pretty much everything else in between that can be found under the sun (like the vocoder-sounding intro to "42 49", or the horn section in the exceptional "12 souls" - I won't even try to describe the intro to that one). Of course, there are some more traditional parts here that will help fans of older Sigh relate ("Curse of Izangai" and "42 49" come to mind), but they are also mingled in with the HHH atmosphere. "Invitation to Die" and the 9 minute epic, "Seeds of Eternity" are my personal favourites tracks off this, with "42 49" a close third. And while I can't think of anything bad to say about this release, I'll still add this : this is not an album for everyone. It might just be too "out there" for some people...especially those who prefer their black metal more in the traditional vein, so buyer beware...
Kudos to Sigh - this CD won't be leaving my player for at least the next few months...
© 1998 chorazaim
On this release, Sigh manage to do things that if attempted by any other band, would make them look (at best) completely ridiculous. I'm sure you've read a lot of reviews for records that use the terms "majestic", or "symphonic", or "orchestrated" - forget it...Hail Horror Hail makes them look about as majestic as lego castles. This is the epitome of black metal as art. A lot of bands these days use synths - 90% of the time, it's a useless endeavor, not adding anything to the music itself, and quite often detracting from it. Then there is the other 10%, where the synth is actually an integral part of the music, and not just added in as an afterthought - Sigh are of that ilk.
Describing the music on this CD in a traditional way would be next to impossible - most of the songs presented here jump from one extreme to another..from straight ahead blackened metal, to "rocking" traditional metal passages, to synth only orchestrated bits, and pretty much everything else in between that can be found under the sun (like the vocoder-sounding intro to "42 49", or the horn section in the exceptional "12 souls" - I won't even try to describe the intro to that one). Of course, there are some more traditional parts here that will help fans of older Sigh relate ("Curse of Izangai" and "42 49" come to mind), but they are also mingled in with the HHH atmosphere. "Invitation to Die" and the 9 minute epic, "Seeds of Eternity" are my personal favourites tracks off this, with "42 49" a close third. And while I can't think of anything bad to say about this release, I'll still add this : this is not an album for everyone. It might just be too "out there" for some people...especially those who prefer their black metal more in the traditional vein, so buyer beware...
Kudos to Sigh - this CD won't be leaving my player for at least the next few months...
© 1998 chorazaim