Sigh- possibly one of the most bizarre acts in metal today, topped only by !T.O.O.H.! and Cephalic Carnage. This avant-garde Japanese metal act got their start releasing old school thrashy black metal back on Euronymous’ DSP label and then did a complete about-face, not unlike infamous post-black metal madmen Ulver, and started experimenting with everything under the sun. The difference between them and Ulver, however, is that eventually Ulver completely left the metal spectrum, whereas Sigh continued with the same level of crazed lunacy while still staying well within the confines of metal. Mirai Kawashima’s blackened shrieks screaming over metal riffs, jazz horns, and everything from psychedelic rock to country made for one of the most unique, yet cool listening experiences in metal. Now that he’s done helping Necrophagia record their latest abortion, he can get back to his real band.

So how is Gallows Gallery? The only way to truly approach a Sigh album is under the same mind-set that you would approach an Ulver album: expect nothing. Because every album always pulls some new punch at you and Gallows Gallery threw a whole lot of punches. This record will be the biggest divider of Sigh fans, and ironically outside of their straight black metal releases this is their heaviest and most bona fide metal album to date. Gallows Gallery is Sigh’s tribute to classic 70’s and 80’s heavy metal… done of course with a few Sigh twists. You’re going to get bombarded with classic metal song arrangements, prog wankery, organs, horns, keyboards, and instruments that you didn’t even know existed.

The first major thing that is going to hit the head is the vocals: the blackened shrieks are gone. Mirai and Co. have opted to go with straight clean melodic vocals to accompany the sound of the music. This is kind of a mix bag: after hearing this so many times it becomes apparent that the style is the only one that could compliment the weird music, but on the other hand Mirai as a clean vocalist singing in English fucking sucks. His usual blackened vocal style is so harsh that you can’t really tell that he suffers from being your typical "ENGRISH!!!!!" Japanese person. Unfortunately, with the cleaner vocals, it’s coming out as clear as day: he speaks Engrish. If this had a cover of "Kung Fu Fighting" I guarantee you that you’d hear Mirai screaming, "Everybody was Kung Fu fighting, JUST AS FAST AS RIGHTNING!!!"

There’s a second gripe as well: the production. The production is pretty mediocre. It gets the job done just barely, but this album’s style of music needs something a lot cleaner and sharper than that.

The music, however, is top-notch. It has some slower, atmospheric parts, but they’re dreary and emotive enough to keep the listener interested until Sigh goes back into the classic metal worship with extra bizarre instrumentation. The drumming is spot on (when you can hear them; stupid production), the riffs are entertaining, and the solos sound like they’re from classic NWOBHM records. You then have Mirai’s prog experimentations and he somehow- in that strange, Asian brain of his- managed to make an organ work in most of the tracks. The only track that I could do without is the crappy remix that is after the "hidden track" (not much of a hidden track if you acknowledge it, now is it?); it pretty much is useless and has little to no place on the album.

The interesting part is the sheer number of guest performances. A good number of the guitar solos were handled by Gunface of The Red Chord (a man whose tech death/grind work has already shown what he is capable of), Gus G. of Firewind and Nightrage, and Niklas Sundin of Dark Tranquility. Metatron from Meads of Asphodel also appears to contribute narration on a track as does Killjoy from Necrophagia; don’t worry, though, this is one of the few times Killjoy doesn’t fuck up. The diminutive little horror freak is kept firmly under control on this album. Everyone actually puts in some great playing and Gallows Gallery happens to be one of the better shows of guest appearances this year.

Outside of the cursed vocals and the muddy production, this is definitely a strong, solid Sigh release. However, I know a lot of people probably won’t get into it from the vocals and production alone. Give Gallows Gallery a try, it will be worth you’re time.

Written By: Necro-tron