Reviews

CD review: SIGH, Scenes from Hell

By Ben Apatoff

If Scenes from Hell is any indication, Beelzebub's lair is not pretty. Choked-sounding saxophones squeal for help, announcing the arrival of a freight train circus packed with cinematic string arrangements, 3/4 sea shanty progressions narrated by downtuned power chords and and enough sound clips to rival early WHITE ZOMBIE. Contagious riffs fight off a headache-inducing mix and a filthy low end. But if this really is what the Abyss sounds like, then the new album from Japanese black metal heroes SIGH also confirms the wise idiom of the late BON SCOTT: "Hell ain't a bad place to be." (more…)