Import.
DOUBLE DISC EDITION OF SIGH’S 1997 RELEASE OF ECLECTIC DARK AND ATMOSPHERIC METAL, NOW ON PEACEVILLE. WITH NEW AUDIO MASTER, EXTENSIVE EXTRA MATERIAL, AND BOOKLET CONTAINING AN INTERVIEW WITH MIRAI KAWASHIMA.
Japanese black metal legends Sigh formed in 1989/1990. The genre-classic debut ‘Scorn Defeat’ followed on Euronymous’ Deathlike Silence Productions in 1993, and with each subsequent release, Sigh grew to become one of the country’s greatest and most revered metal exports. With a journey through the strange and the psychedelic, incorporating a whole eclectic mix of genre styles & experimentation throughout their career, Sigh has remained a vital creative force in the avant-garde field whilst maintaining their old school roots, as witnessed with the stellar 2022 album, ‘Shiki’. 2025 also saw Sigh reimagining their ‘Hangman’s Hymn’ album for a release on Peaceville as part of the band’s 35th anniversary celebrations, in the shape of ‘I Saw the World’s End: Hangman’s Hymn MMXXV’.
Maintaining the core trio of Mirai Kawashima, Shinichi Ishikawa, and Satoshi Fujinami, and on the back of the epic and darkly symphonic opus ‘Infidel Art’ (1995), Sigh adopted a more boundary-defying approach to their writing, whilst still keeping the dark foundations and traits of the band’s fundamental sound. The result was ‘Ghastly Funeral Theatre’ which surfaced in 1997 and, draped in Eastern and horror-based atmospherics, the band also embraced elements outside of metal with what was their most experimental offering to date; utilising instruments such as the saxophone as well as acoustic passages, and notoriously drawing comparisons to the moods of bands such as The Beatles at times, featuring catchy hooks and structures in line with the rock music genre, but masterfully woven into Sigh’s unique blackened metal tapestry.
Continuing with Peaceville’s re-issues of Sigh’s classic early (and, until now, hard to find) works, this edition of ‘Ghastly Funeral Theatre’ contains a new master created by Patrick Engel at Temple of Disharmony, featuring a new transfer from the original DAT source.
In addition to the original studio tracks, this special double-disc release contains an expansive selection of material from the time, from unreleased mixes of album tracks and rare cover songs, to the inclusion of the very rare ‘Funeral Theatre’ Promo tape created by Mirai Kawashima in 1995.
The release also includes a new interview with main-man Mirai Kawashima conducted by Dayal Patterson of Cult Never Dies, delving into the history and inspirations behind ‘Ghastly Funeral Theatre’.
Tracklist
DISC1
- Intro: Soushiki [01:26]
- Shingontachikawa [05:27]
- Doman Seman [05:33]
- Imiuta [03:14]
- Shikigami [06:22]
- Outro: Higeki [01:31]
DISC 2
- The Shadowking (Vinyl Collectors LP) [07:16]
- Black Metal (Vinyl Collectors LP) [02:37]
- The Seven Gates Of Hell (Vinyl Collectors LP) [04:33]
- Carnage (Vinyl Collectors LP) [03:11]
- Spiritual (John Coltrane cover) [02:46]
- Doman Seman (unreleased mix) [05:33]
- Shikigami (unreleased mix – no sax) [06:34]
- Shingontachikawa (unreleased mix) [05:27]
- Shikigami (rough mix) [06:22]
- Doman Seman (rough mix) [05:30]
- My Funeral Begins (Funeral Theatre promo 95) [01:07]
- Called From Beyond (Funeral Theatre promo 95) [02:27]
- Night (Funeral Theatre promo 95) [01:12]
- Angst (Funeral Theatre promo 95) [02:13]
- The Horror (Funeral Theatre promo 95) [02:05]
- In Solitude (Funeral Theatre promo 95) [04:00]
- Unreleased (Funeral Theatre promo 95) [06:04]
