### Sigh/Kawir: Split

#### 09/07/12 || Sokaris

It was 1994 and black metal was setting Norway on fire (literally in some cases) and this year would see an onslaught of top-tier classics in the genre. Meanwhile in Japan, Sigh were looking for a new label in the wake of Euronymous’ death and ended up releasing music for Cacophonous, a partnership the band would later regret.

Sigh’s side opens with a then new song, the bizarrely titled “Suicidogenic”. A brief moment of what I believe is ocarina opens the ceremonies before the song erupts into a violent thrashing maelstrom. Throw in accents of triangle, vibraslap and horror movie keyboards all with the intent of ratcheting up the intensity until the song’s insanely infectious refrain returns, bringing with it an additional layer of keyboards and a chaotic lead courtesy of Shinichi. Following up on this is a Venom cover, namely “Schizo”. This was their first (but definitely not their last) released cover of the British pioneers and it’s a strong performance of the song. They speed it up and there’s definitely an atmosphere of them having a blast with it.

Kawir contributes a more atmospheric, moody track in “Sinn (The blazing queen)”. The band never left a huge mark on the underground but they’re definitely a point of interest if you’re a fan of the early Greek sound; warm, full sounding black metal.

An interesting curiosity, it’s worth hearing these versions of the two Sigh tracks here, but not not mandatory for casual listeners.

“Suicidogenic” would later be re-recorded and lengthened for “Infidel art”. The more complete re-releases of “Scorn defeat” include Sigh’s tracks from this split. Sigh also recorded another version of the “Schizo” cover many years later.

7.5/10: “Suicidogenic” was their best song at this point but nothing essential considering the subsequent releases.