I gave some thought as to what music might embody the The Goat Demon Issue. Sure, there are plenty of metal tracks/bands that have either (or both) words in their name, but I looked at the cover and thought, “What music would HE listen to?” First band I thought of was Sigh. So here they are…
These guys formed in 1990 while in college in Tokyo and quickly went from being another covers band to recording two demos in that same year. They followed it up with 1992’s Requiem For Fools EP, which signaled a slight change in direction. The re-recording of the track “Desolations of My Mind,” which was featured on both demos–Desolation and Tragedies–was more like the black metal sound that was rising from the fjords than the then-current death metal sound of their earlier recordings. (Though they state they were influenced by 80s thrash and first-wave black metal, like their Norwegian contemporaries.)
Requiem For Fools somehow ended up being sent to Mayhem’s Dead, and his suicide meant it fell into the hands of a certain Øystein Aarseth, who liked it so much he wanted to release their forthcoming LP on his Deathlike Silence Productions imprint. His influence in the Norwegian black metal scene at the time saw Sigh gaining the respect of many of the then-musicians in the scene (Emperor are said to have been influenced by Sigh), and they, in turn, adopted the corpse paint aesthetics for what would have been the DSP cover. Sadly, we all know what happened to Mr. Aarseth, and Sigh never made it to a release with DSP. However, Voices Of Wonder (who took over DSP after Euronymous’ death) did release Scorn Defeat with that sleeve in 1993.
Sigh have since left behind their black/thrash roots in favor of a more avant-garde approach and are set to release their eighth studio record next January. I have gone with the aforementioned “Desolation of My Mind” from Requiem For Fools. The track has almost two completely different parts–the second half is what I am talking about here. It has some of the eeriest synths I have ever heard and something about it is quite atypically Japanese too.
Sigh - “Desolation of My Mind”
Tags: A Fist in the Face of God, Japanese corpse paint, Sigh
