INFIDEL ART

After starting out as a Japanese outpost of straight-ahead second wave-styled black metal - right down to releasing their debut album on Deathlike Silence Productions, the label run by Euronymous of Mayhem infamy, Sigh began their slow evolution into a more experimental progressive avant-black unit here. Don't expect the latter style to emerge fully formed - if you want that, go check out the followup, Hail Horror Hail - but do expect tightened-up production and an intriguing mixture of thrash-tinged black metal and more symphonic elements.

Sigh were hardly alone in the second wave black metal scene in experimenting with such a mix, of course - Dimmu Borgir have pretty much built a career out of it - but it's through these experimental features, with some influence from traditional Japanese music and instrumentation, that Sigh begin to break away from the pack. The standard-issue black metal corpsepaint previously worn proudly on the cover of their debut, Scorn Defeat, is beginning to wash away here, and what's underneath is stranger and more intriguing than anyone dared hope for.