Sigh – peaceville.com

SIGH: NEW LIVE ALBUM: ‘LIVE: EASTERN FORCES OF EVIL 2022’ OUT NOW (June 23 for North America)

‘Live: The Eastern Forces of Evil 2022’ is available on a 2 disc CD/DVD set / LP / Digitally

‘LIVE: THE EASTERN FORCES OF EVIL 2022’ TRACKLISTING

OPENING-Touji No Asa (live) [01:31]
A Victory of Dakini (live) [05:59]
Purgatorium (live) [04:48]
The Transfiguration Fear (live) [04:00]
Kuroi Kage (live) [07:46]
Shingontachikawa (live) [04:51]
Mayonaka no Kaii (live) [05:39]
Shoujahitsumetsu (live) [03:54]
The Soul Grave (live) [04:04]
Introitus (live) [03:04]
Inked In Blood (live) [03:07]
Me-Devil (live) [03:06]
Satsui (live) [04:27]
Evil Dead-ENDING (live) [04:07]

With a title referencing the band’s original underground live release ‘The Eastern Force of Evil’ released back in 1997, this new performance captured recently in Japan features the line-up of founder & mainman Mirai Kawashima on bass/vocals, Dr. Mikannibal on vocals/saxophone, Nozomu Wakai on guitar, and Takeo Shimoda on drums.
Following swiftly on the back of the release of the highly acclaimed ‘Shiki’ album and coming in a year which also marks 30 years since Sigh’s highly influential debut, ‘Scorn Defeat’, ‘Live: The Eastern Forces of Evil 2022’ captures the band in fine form as they perform a wide collection of old and new tracks covering all the way from the aforementioned first album, up until the band’s first Peaceville studio album, ‘Shiki’. With flawless musicianship and accompanied by a stellar audio mix, ‘Live: The Eastern Forces of Evil 2022’ truly represents the very best of Sigh’s legacy.

Frontman Mirai had the following to say about the new album:

Our new live album was recorded in August 2022 whilst we performed our live stream that we did during the pandemic, which was a cliché in the world under the Pandemic. However, the recording of both video and audio, turned out by far better than we had expected and we thought it’d be a good idea to physically release it rather than just putting it on YouTube or somewhere.

Mirai continues:

This is a document not only about our blood-drenched stage but also about the new era of Sigh that began with Nozomu on guitar. 2023 marks the 30th anniversary of our debut album “Scorn Defeat”, and “Live: Eastern Forces of Evil 2022” covers our whole career from “Scorn Defeat” to the latest “Shiki” released in 2022. Don’t miss it!

The CD/DVD edition of includes both audio and visual presentations of the show, and also features 2 extra tracks, including a cover of the Death classic, ‘Evil Dead’. The DVD also includes 3 additional promo video tracks in the shape of ‘Mayonaka No Kaii’, ‘Satsui’, and ‘Shoujahitsumetsu’.

The band have announced they’ll be performing at two festivals later this year – Netherlands Samhain Festival and UK’s Damnation Festival (2 different sets) including ‘Scorn Defeat’ in its entirety.

28 / 29. 10. 2023 – NL – Samhain Festival – Muziekgieterij, Maastricht
03 + 04.11/23 – UK – Damnation Festival – BEC Arena Manchester

SIGH – ‘SHIKI’ – THE NEW STUDIO ALBUM FROM THE JAPANESE LEGENDS AVAILABLE NOW

ORDER/SAVE

Sigh’s new album ‘Shiki’ is available now on CD / black vinyl LP / ltd ed green vinyl LP and digital.

SHIKI TRACKLISING

Kuroi Inori [00:16]
Kuroi Kage [07:55]
Shoujahitsumetsu [03:52]
Shikabane [05:28]
Satsui – Geshi No Ato [07:07]
Fuyu Ga Kuru [06:28]
Shouku [05:30]
Kuroi Kagami [01:10]
Mayonaka No Kaii [05:24]
Touji No Asa [02:53]

Following the announcement of ‘SHIKI’, their new studio album, on 26th August, cult Japanese black metal legends Sigh have released a new digital single ‘Satsui – Geshi No Ato’ and a video for ‘Satsui’

Sigh mainman Mirai Kawashima explains the track “The album ‘Shiki’ is mostly about my personal fear of getting old and my fear of death, but some of the songs are a bit off topic and ‘Satsui’ is one of them. ‘Satsui’ means ‘Intent to Kill’ and it is my personal view on the death penalty. You often hear people say ‘The criminal penalty is not meant to be for revenge’ or ‘we all live in a country governed by law’, but I do not think things are that simple; but of course everybody has the right to have their own opinions though. I guess the song is one of the most straightforward ones on the album.

He goes on to explain the full album version of the song – “Satsui – Geshi No Ato” which is available now through streaming platforms – “On the other hand, ‘Geshi no Ato’ is a completely different song. I composed that as an outro to ‘Satsui’, and the lyrical concept followed. The title means ‘After Summer Solstice’’, which is a metaphor saying that your heyday is gone. I played all the guitars on this and Mike Heller banged chairs, pieces of wood, boxes, water bottles, etc to create the beat!”

Immerse yourself in Sigh’s new world through the first single “Mayonaka No Kaii” and the accompanying illustrated video from animator extraordinaire Costin Chioreanu.

“The song is kind of a culmination of what Sigh have been up to. Whistle scream, throat singing, Uriah Heep like vocal harmonies, vocoder, flute solo, shakuhachi solo, Hammond solo and the great guitar solo by Fred – it’s got everything! Although it’s only 5-minute long, it’s a very dramatic song with many aspects. The title stands for ‘a strange incident at midnight’, and it’s based on actual weird experience I had .. Long story short, I experienced midnight twice in one night! You can read the details at the end of the video. We have been working with Costin for a long time, so we were 100% sure that he’d be the best guy to visualize my eerie experience, and how did it turn out? You all see for yourselves!” Mirai Kawashima.

The word “Shiki” itself has various meanings in Japanese such as four seasons, time to die, conducting an orchestra, ceremony, motivation, colour. The two primary themes for the album are “four seasons” and “time to die”. The concept and artwork is based around a traditional Japanese poem, and on ‘Shiki’ Mirai explores how at this stage of life he himself is going through Autumn, with Winter coming soon, and so empathises with the contrasting sentimental feelings from watching cherry blossoms (a symbol of spring) in full bloom.

Joining Mirai and Dr Mikannibal for this release are Frédéric Leclercq of Kreator, plus US drummer extraordinaire, Mike Heller of Fear Factory and Raven, along with an appearance by longtime member Satoshi Fujinami on bass. ‘Shiki’ was recorded across multiple studios, and mixed and mastered by Lasse Lammert at LSD studios in Germany. The album utilises a whole host of instruments to give further texture and dynamics to the compositions and eerie atmosphere, incorporating traditional oriental instruments such as the Shakuhachi & Sinobue flutes.

Sigh, featuring mainman Mirai Kawashima, Satoshi Fujinami & Kazuki Ozeki formed in 1989/90 and following their initial demos, Shinichi Ishikawa was brought in, and Sigh set about recording the masterpiece debut ‘Scorn Defeat’ for Euronymous’ Deathlike Silence Productions, going on to become one of the country’s greatest and most revered metal exports.

Peaceville Records is proud to announce the signing of Japanese legends Sigh to the roster for their forthcoming album, set for release this year.

Photo by David Hall

As veterans of the black metal scene after more than 30 years of existence and eleven full-length studio albums, as well as being among the most eclectic metal bands with their effortless flirting between numerous musical genre influences over the years, it is a great pleasure to welcome Sigh to Peaceville for their next opus.

Sigh founder and main-man, Mirai Kawashima, shares a few words on the new signing: “I’ve been following Peaceville’s history from the very beginning. I mean the albums by bands like Deviated Instinct, Electro Hippies, Doom, Axegrinder, Autopsy, Paradise Lost etc. were my go-to music in my youth. (and they still are!) When I visited London a few years ago, I met Paul (though we’ve known each other for around 20 years now) and talked about a possible re-release of “Scorn Defeat” and, as you may know, it actually happened and went really well. So when Sigh needed a new home for the new album, Peaceville was an obvious choice. I am very happy to work with them and really cannot wait for the new album to come out through them later this year!”

Paul Groundwell, Peaceville’s label manager comments on the signing “At once intrigued and captivated by Sigh ever since the release of the timeless ‘Scorn Defeat’, with Eastern themes, the Celtic Frost-tinged riffing and also the effective integration of piano into an underground type sound, there was always a certain dark magic to the band which made them unique among much else in the early 90s scene. Certainly, Sigh went on to bigger things and much deserved success, exploring and embracing the weird and the wonderful without artistic compromise over the years. Venturing through the realms of the avantgarde and more traditional classic metal, the old school heart always remained. And so, with such an impressive body of work preceding them, we’re excited to witness this next chapter of the band’s legacy on Peaceville”.

Stay tuned for more information on the release of the new Sigh album.

ORDER 2CD

ORDER 2LP

In the meantime fans can enjoy a new 2 disc version of the bands Eastern Darkness album which is available from the Peaceville Store. ‘Eastern Darkness’ contains a comprehensive collection of Sigh’s early rare works showing their swift musical evolution as well as the strong utilisation of keyboards in their compositional process throughout. The collection includes the band’s legendary demo tapes, ‘Desolation’, and ‘Tragedies’, plus their EPs and rarities, as well as contributions to various compilation releases in the mid 1990s.

Considering Sigh’s well-known regard for UK legends Venom throughout their career, ‘Eastern Darkness’ also contains the band’s own tribute to the 1980s black metal pioneers, in the form of tribute ‘To Hell and Back’, originally released on tape in 1995.

This edition of ‘Eastern Darkness’ is as a 2CD set and includes a booklet featuring an interview with Mirai Kawashima about the early years of the band, along with his recollections of the origins of each title contained within the release.