Heir To Despair
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LP / Format
Candlelight / Label
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CRITIC REVIEWS
100
Where does Sigh go from here? Only time will tell. For a band that’s always been impossible to predict and at times harder to decipher, Heir to Despair serves as a testament to their abilities.
90
It’s the mix of all these elements — the willingness to experiment, the grasp of the fundamentals, and the mastery of atmospherics — that make Heir to Despair the kind of release that everyone — and I do mean EVERYone — should experience at least twice (there is simply no way your mind is going to be able to properly take the whole thing in with just one listen).
90
By nailing prog rock, epic metal and Japanese traditional music, Sigh have probably dug themselves into a niche that could be impossible to get out of. But if any album could, it's Heir to Despair.
80
In a discography full of records that sound unmistakably like Sigh despite often not sounding anything like each other, Heir to Despair fits in perfectly. The instantly recognizable riffs, inspired songwriting bits, a production that is just a bit muffled and just a little bit off, the passages of black metal aggression, and a general feel of insane joy are all still here and should delight fans.
78
It’s Sigh’s most palatable record since, perhaps ever. Rather than bludgeon the listener with out-of-left-field whackiness, Sigh smartly use their avant-grade sensibilities to make their most substantial record in over 15 years. It offers so much more while feeling like less.
As much as the textures vibrate and contort through each track in a very avant-garde metal fashion, when the quality sounds too rich, squeaky, and like generic heavy metal, it ends up sounding more like Avenge Sevenfold than it does black metal or visual kei, (visual kei that's exciting to me at least). Heir to Despair is in whole a quirky record, which makes sense for Sigh. Unfortunately, I fall short from being too invested with this thing because of how quirky and everywhere the outside ... read more
This is the first time listening to this band, and I absolutely loved it. The mix of progressive rock, avant-garde and trash metal, and traditional Japanese music is great.
'AMAZING' TRACKS: Homo Homini Lupus, In Memories Delusional, Hands of the String Puller, Heir To Despair
'GREAT' TRACKS: Heresy I: Oblivium, Heresy II: Acosmism, Heresy III: Sub Species Aeternitatis
'GOOD' TRACKS: Aletheia, Hunters Not Horned
'AVERAGE' TRACKS: -
'NOT GOOD' TRACKS: -
'AMAZING' TRACKS: Homo Homini Lupus, In Memories Delusional, Hands of the String Puller, Heir To Despair
'GREAT' TRACKS: Heresy I: Oblivium, Heresy II: Acosmism, Heresy III: Sub Species Aeternitatis
'GOOD' TRACKS: Aletheia, Hunters Not Horned
'AVERAGE' TRACKS: -
'NOT GOOD' TRACKS: -
Sigh's ambitions lack much of excitement or mastery in the final product to lead it through its avant-metal promises but "Heir To Despair" is a very good progressive-metal record; one that doesn't shy away from its pandering towards the cliches and its over-indulgent nature towards its experimentation.
interesting enough in its own terms, but seems constrained by its framework, where you find yourself thinking "okay, here comes the crunchy guitar part", and then "okay, here comes the syncopated prog guitar part", etc. for a far more raw metal sound amid similar cultural allusions, I think Yamantaka//Sonic Titan does this better, on every level.
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Track List
- Aletheia
- Homo Homini Lupus
- Hunters Not Horned
- In Memories Delusional
- Heresy I: Oblivium
- Heresy II: Acosmism
- Heresy III: Sub Species Aeternitatis
- Hands of the String Puller
- Heir To Despair
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2y
These guys peaked with Imaginary Sonicscape and their last album wasn't that great so doubt this is going to be a worthwhile listen. Solid album art though, just like In Somniphobia.
2y
I was expecting cute Japanese underground bedroom pop...
I got a head full of nightmares instead;_;
I got a head full of nightmares instead;_;
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Added on: September 29, 2018