Details on Sigh's New Album

Earlier this year, black metal band Sigh announced they have joined British label Peaceville Records for their next album. Now, details on this release have been revealed.

Shiki will hit stores on August 26th. The album is described as "an opus of dark & eclectic blackened heavy metal, shrouded in traditional eastern influences".

The word "shiki" is said to have various meanings in Japanese, such as "four seasons", "time to die", "conducting an orchestra", "ceremony", "motivation" and "colour". The two primary themes for the album are "four seasons" and "time to die". The concept and artwork are based around a traditional Japanese poem, and the album is said to see mainman Mirai Kawashima exploring how, at this stage of life, he himself is going through autumn, with winter coming soon, and so empathizes with the contrasting sentimental feelings from watching cherry blossoms (a symbol of spring) in full bloom.

Joining Kawashima and Dr Mikannibal for this release are Frédéric Leclercq of Kreator, plus drummer Mike Heller of Fear Factory and Raven. It also features an appearance from 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 is said to "utilize 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 and sinobue flutes.

The album will be released on CD, black vinyl and limited edition green vinyl, as well as digitally. Links to purchase the album in all of these formats can be found here. 

In addition, Sigh recently gave fans a preview of the release with the preceding digital single Mayonaka No Kaii. An illustrated video for the track from animator Costin Chioreanu was also recently unveiled.

Mirai Kawashima commented:
“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 minutes 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!”

The music video for Mayonaka No Kaii can be viewed below.