Excuse me in advance for what I assume will be a content-less review.
As a de facto metalhead (I don’t care for the term, personally, but that’s what I qualify as), I don’t know where I fall. The elitist metalhead in me only likes 5 bands. The old-school metal elitist in me doesn’t like anything that’s come out since the mid-90s. The don’t-give-a-fuck metalhead in me just wants to bang his head to anything that rocks. The part of me that isn’t a metalhead at all just likes what sounds cool.
I’ve listened to this album probably a hundred times and I don’t know what it is or why I like it, but I like it quite a bit. Where ever you look you’re bound to see Sigh referred to as a black metal band, and while their first album or two might have been (I don’t know; I haven’t listened to them), Imaginary Sonicscape is not a black metal album. The raspy vocals are the only thing reminiscent of black metal at all, and even then, not really. This is definitely avant-garde metal, and since none of the metalheads within me like avant-garde I don’t know why I like it.
I think I like it because there are some very memorable (when I say memorable I probably mean catchy—very catchy) parts and the album is interesting pretty much all of the way through. The very first riff on “Corpsecry – Angelfall” might be one of the most memorable things on this disc, and also one of my favorites. I’ve also been trying to figure out for a year if “Impromptu (Allegro Maestoso)” was written/played by a member of the band/someone they know or if it’s a piece of classical music I’m unfamiliar with because I like it so much (it’s just someone playing a piano). And obviously, as someone who digs long songs (as long as they’re done right), “Slaughtergarden Suite,” which clocks in at almost 11 minutes, really, uh… I don’t know… keeps me interested? Like many long, prog-oriented songs, it’s starts out slow and progresses into something faster and more interesting. Except it’s weird, because this whole album is weird. And good.
Again, this is a content-less, useless review. Musically this thing is all over the place. There are nice orchestral-sounding string sections sandwiched between beeps that I swear toy spaceguns I had when I was a kid made, which would make sense because in other reviews and descriptions of Sonicscape I’ve read many of these sounds called “spacey,” and I don’t know of any other way to describe them, so that’s how it is. Three quarters of the way through the very first track on the album it just stops abruptly and changes into something else. There is heavy use of, um… sound on this album, but the “conventional” metal aspects are pretty cool too—some neato leads, cool riffs, etc. As alluded to above, calling this album a prog album is actually relatively fitting, as weird as it seems for me to say. I’ve never bothered to listen to the lyrics much, nor have I read them, but I’m sure they’re weird. I don’t think Sigh is offering up any revolutionary or visionary metal, but it’s kind of cool to listen to once in a while.
Exit is an album about office workers, fed up with their docile lives of servitude, getting sick of it and killing themselves. The album cover is an anonymous man in a suit, briefcase at his side, with a shotgun to his head. The first track, the title track, is a 50 second intro followed by 15 seconds of grinding anger and a shotgun blast. Track titles include: “Burden,” “Sell Your Soul,” “Mass Suicide,” “Greed,” and “Western Cancer.” This album is pure distaste.
I think I bought this in 2005 when I found it for like seven bucks used at FYE (of all places, oh noes!). At first it got a handful of listens, but since nothing particular grabbed me it sat in a pile for a few years, only getting an occasional listen. In the last year or two, however, it’s found consistent play in my CD player, on my computer, and on my iPod.
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