Scenes from Hell

Sigh (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 19, 2010)
• Original Release Date: 2010
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: The End Records
• ASIN: B002Y1L502
• In-Print Editions: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #175,373 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Sigh's Scenes From Hell is the first great metal album of 2010. --MetalSucks.com

While Mirai Kawashima and John Williams is an unequivocal comparison, Scenes from Hell does contain cinematic orchestrations. Whether using classical instruments or working the sounds through keyboards, Sigh is truly a symphonic black metal act. --Blistering

Symphonic jazz and scathing black metal--on paper something that would never work but some how Sigh makes it happen . . . They like to add very trippy elements to it all then I swear Danny Elfman is a member of the band at times. --Absolute Zero Media

Product Description

Since their birth in 1990, Japanese metal band Sigh has pushed boundaries with each and every release. Often labeled as a black metal band, Sigh s music has been and continues to be inspired by various styles including 80 s thrash, classical jazz, 60 s/70 s rock and other less categorizable genres.

Scenes from Hell, the group s 8th proper studio album, expands on these genres/influences from the last forty years of rock but this time featues an additional arsenal: guest vocals from David Tibet (Current 93) and Kam Lee adding a dimension never found in metal, and the use of instruments usually reserved for symphony halls: trumpet, trombone, tuba, flute, oboe, clarinet, and strings which add an intense, otherwordly symphonic quality to the music. Scenes From Hell is black art metal as it should be: loud, all-encompassing and intense.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Progressive Black Metal: Ska+Death & Gogol Bordello?, February 3, 2010

By 

avgvstvs "Matt Seil" (Omaha NE) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Scenes from Hell (Audio CD)

The first thing I notice when kicking this album up is the lo-fi production. The drums are mixed in the background with a distinctly thin garage feel. This is a bit of a turn-off for me as I was used to the ultra-clean production from "Imaginary Sonicscape."

Musically the first track integrates Spanish horns... this is probably the first time I've ever heard a black-metal type band do this. I don't personally find this a bad thing, but purists should probably steer clear here as the rest of the album continues to explore odd musical territory like this.

The second track mixes in some east-European gypsy elements similar to what you'd expect to hear from acts like Gogol Bordello. This continues on to track three, as they borrow elements from classical Russian compositions. (Not sure which, but it is distinct.)

I stopped in my tracks towards the end of "Musica in Tempora Belli." A haunting poem recited by someone (not from the band) with some exquisite lyrics that give the perfect backdrop into the next song, "Vanitas." This was a turning point for me on this album.

Track 4 breaks from the eastern euro elements, grabbing in a feel that is distinctly ska in flavor, ending with another Spanish horn fiesta. Track 5 recreates the old dirge "Lower the Casket." I love it and though its probably the slowest track, it is familiar from a Sigh standpoint and I like it accordingly. Towards the end there's an awesome bluesy solo that was unexpected to the classical tinges of this track.

Overall this band has gone into what I would consider completely uncharted territory... enough so that its hard to really place it amongst the catacombs of metal. However, I'm not 100% on the execution... the ideas are generally good but they feel devoid of any real passion. Production quality has an effect on this, I'm sure; I don't know why they chose to go low-budget with this release when they're established enough to not need to.

For fans of wildly progressive music only. Black metal purists will hate this!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars not the sigh we're used to, but they never are, March 12, 2010

By 

broken shift key - See all my reviews

This review is from: Scenes from Hell (Audio CD)

black metal meets gypsy jazz in this return to excellence. while the previous album, hangman's hymn, was irritating and stealthily pop-based despite its prevalence of brass and use of leitmotifs, scenes from hell is gloomy, raw, and highly narrative music that possesses a hidden complexity without returning to the complete avant-garde schizophrenia that defined pre-2000 sigh material. beautiful album art, by the way. let it grow on you.

5.0 out of 5 stars Brutal, January 17, 2011

By 

KFBR392 - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Scenes From Hell [Vinyl] (Vinyl)

For any fans of the Melvins, Neurosis or Fantomas. You will appreciate this album. Top notch. Top notch.