HEIR TO DESPAIR

Sigh's latest album is the second Sigh album I've listened to, and it was great. The Japanese black metal warriors continue their journey with Heir to Despair, which is another album full of solid, psychedelic black metal. Heir to Despair has a great-looking album cover that's appealing to the eye with the smiling woman on it, making it look like an innocent picture. A closer look at the art shows that the woman is watering a dead plant, and there's debris all over behind her. If you look very closely, there is a man's shadow in the background that looks like it's approaching the woman, spooky. This album cover reflects the title of the album, "Heir to Despair."

The music matches the album cover, that is, it seems pretty but it's also very chaotic and heavy. Fifty-plus minutes of great psychedelic black metal. Even then, the album is difficult to categorize into any specific genre. Black metal is just a general descriptor. Good ol' Sigh. Like any other album by this band, you have to listen to it in order to get an idea of what it actually sounds like.

I don't listen to much black metal but when I do, I prefer Sigh... and Enslaved, maybe Deafheaven, and definitely Agalloch. To fans of psychedelic metal, black metal, maybe post metal, and certainly fans who like Avant-Garde metal, this album is for you. Heir to Despair is only my second offering by Sigh but it's certainly not going to be my last.