Here's an album I purchased last week and have been enjoying it a lot over the past few days.
Artist/Band Name : Sigh
Album Title : Hangman's Hymn
Year of Recording : 2007
Genre : Avantgarde Metal/ Black Metal
Information about the artist/band/recording :
Supposedly the first black metal band from Japan. These guys are simply crazy.
Impressions:
First off, recording quality isnt great. I know, big let down, I almost didnt bother listening to this album cos of that. But then I thought I'd give it a shot anyway. Man, its such a fun album. Very interesting use of orchestral sounding parts, traditional black metal sections mixed with some craziness. You really don't know what to expect next.
The album is divided into three sections with three songs each (4 in one). The songs have a nice flow, and there are some parts which I find hilarious. I don't know if its good sense of humor from the band or if they were trying to be serious. (but I am almost certain they were just having fun). But seriously though, if it werent for the orchestration, this album wouldnt have been half as good, its not very power metal epic sounding orchestra, although there are some Nightwish, Kamelot, Rhapsody sounding parts, its used a little less, and comes in and goes out several times, but that kind of makes it unique.
Recording Quality :
Poor. Not really good in any way, wouldve been a terrific record if it werent for the recording quality because there is quite a lot going on with orchestration kicking in randomly and some ambient sound effects. But for some reason the quality of the tracks seem to get slightly better as the album progresses. Nevertheless nowhere close to reference.
Similar albums/artists : Satyricon, Mercyful Fate, Agalloch, Burzum, DImmu Borgir (Most of these bands might not sound similar, thats cos Sigh gets a 10/10 for originality in my books)
Which headphone/rig you think suits this album : Um....anything?