Sigh Join Peaceville Records for New Album

Black metal veterans Sigh recently announced that they have signed to British label Peaceville Records for their next album.

While details on the new release have not been revealed just yet, Sigh have a new two-disc version of their compilation album Eastern Darkness scheduled for release on Peaceville on April 22nd. It is available for pre-order now here.

Eastern Darkness is said to contain "a comprehensive collection of Sigh’s early rare works showing their swift musical evolution as well as the strong utilisation of keyboards in their compositional process throughout". It includes tracks from their demo tapes Desolation and Tragedies, plus their EPs and rarities, as well as contributions to various compilation releases in the mid 1990s. It also includes To Hell and Back, the band's tribute to British metal band Venom, which was originally released on tape in 1995. The 2CD version also comes with a booklet featuring an interview with Sigh founder Mirai Kawashima about the early years of the band, along with his recollections of the origins of each title contained within the release.

Overseas fans can also look forward to seeing Sigh at a few festivals this year. They are scheduled to perform at Finland's Steelfest Open Air Metal Festival on May 14th, the Czech Republic's Brutal Assault 25, which will stretch from August 9th to 13th, and at Mexico's Candelabrum Metal Fest on September 3rd.

Mirai Kawashima commented:

“I've been following Peaceville's history from the very beginning. I mean the albums by bands like Deviated Instinct, Electro Hippies, Doom, Axegrinder, Autopsy, Paradise Lost, etc. were my go-to music in my youth. (And they still are!) When I visited London a few years ago, I met Paul (though we've known each other for around 20 years now) and talked about a possible re-release of Scorn Defeat and, as you may know, it actually happened and went really well. So when Sigh needed a new home for the new album, Peaceville was an obvious choice. I am very happy to work with them and really cannot wait for the new album to come out through them later this year!”

Peaceville’s label manager Paul Groundwell commented:

“At once intrigued and captivated by Sigh ever since the release of the timeless Scorn Defeat, with Eastern themes, the Celtic Frost-tinged riffing and also the effective integration of piano into an underground type sound, there was always a certain dark magic to the band which made them unique among much else in the early 90s scene. Certainly, Sigh went on to bigger things and much deserved success, exploring and embracing the weird and the wonderful without artistic compromise over the years. Venturing through the realms of the avantgarde and more traditional classic metal, the old school heart always remained. And so, with such an impressive body of work preceding them, we’re excited to witness this next chapter of the band’s legacy on Peaceville”.