''Imaginary Sonicscape'' is the fifth studio album by Japanese black metal band Sigh, released on July 4, 2001. Produced by Sigh, it was the band's first record released on Century Media Records. The musical styles of ''Imaginary Sonicscape'' further explored the experimental tendencies of the band's previous album '' Scenario IV: Dread Dreams'' with further psychedelic elements to the band's sound.

Production

After leaving their previous record label Cacophonous Records for Century Media due to lack of promotion, Sigh entered the studio to record ''Imaginary Sonicscape'' in September 2000 at Studio Zen/Electric Space Studio. The album took many months to perfect under the direction of

Yukito Okazaki Yukito is a masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Yukito can be written using different combinations of kanji characters. Some examples: *幸人, "happiness, person" *幸斗, "happiness, Big Dipper" *行人, "to go, person" *行斗 ...

from the stoner metal band Eternal Elysium. While the band's new sound was influenced by

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

, classical music and Frank Zappa, the lyrics of the album were based on the band's views on life and death. Band member Mirai described it as "Most of they iclyrics on the album are about life and death and fear of getting old, fear of losing somebody you love." The style of the album draws from many genres outside of the

extreme metal Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tra ...

sound, occasionally drifting into sounds ranging from dub, giggling babies, jazz fusion and disco. Frontman Mirai explained that the band "never intend to make it musically varied or weird. I always choose the best way to express the feeling. Sometimes it could be heavy guitars while sometimes it could be a classical piano solo. And as a result, sometimes the song has lots of different elements. It's just a result, not a purpose." The band finished recording the album in March 2001.

Reception

''Imaginary Sonicscape'' was released on July 4, 2001. The album failed to chart in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. The album was well received from the extreme metal audience. The British extreme music magazine '' Terrorizer'' placed the album as the 10th best album of 2001. William York of the music database

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

gave the album four and a half stars out of five noting that "On one hand, this is great heavy metal, and on the other, it's genuinely twisted experimental/ psychedelic music. An amazing, weird album, and also the best place for newcomers to start with this band."

Track listing

The album was remastered and reissued in 2009 with two bonus tracks: "Voices" and "Born Condemned Criminal," and a longer version of "Bring Back the Dead":

Personnel

*Mirai - Fender Rhodes,

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, minimoog, Yamaha acoustic piano, Hohner clavinet, Yamaha string machine, Roland vocoder, other keyboards, sampling, programming, modulator, effects, Speak & Spell, recorder, melodeon,

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

, vocals *Shinichi - Fender Stratocaster, Fender Telecaster, Takamine acoustic guitar,

Yamaha RX-5 The Yamaha RX-5 is a programmable digital sample-based drum machine built by Yamaha, in 1986. Features The RX-5 has 24 built-in digitally sampled Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Technology ...

*Satoshi -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called " zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, thou ...

triangle A triangle is a polygon with three edges and three vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry. A triangle with vertices ''A'', ''B'', and ''C'' is denoted \triangle ABC. In Euclidean geometry, any three points, when non- colli ...

bongo Bongo may refer to: Entertainment * ''Bongo'' (Australian TV series), on air from August to November 1960 * Bongo Comics, a comic book publishing company * Bongo (''Dragon Ball'') or Krillin, a character in ''Dragon Ball'' media * ''Bongo'' ...

, hand claps, suspended cymbal,

bar chimes A mark tree (also known as a nail tree, chime tree, or set of bar chimes) is a percussion instrument used primarily for musical colour. It consists of many small chimes—typically cylinders of solid aluminium or hollow brass tubing 3/8" in di ...

vibraslap The vibraslap is a percussion instrument consisting of a piece of stiff wire (bent into a U-shape) connecting a wooden ball to a hollow box of wood with metal “teeth” inside. The percussionist holds the metal wire in one hand and strikes th ...

Technical personnel

* Yukito Okazaki -

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

* Sigh - producer * Alan Douches - mastering *

Stephen O'Malley Stephen O'Malley (sometimes referred to as SOMA; born July 15, 1974) is an American guitarist, producer, composer, and visual artist from Seattle, Washington, who has conceptualized and participated in numerous drone doom, death/doom, and expe ...

- cover design * Tenkotsu Kawaho - photography

Notes

{{Authority control 2001 albums Sigh (band) albums Century Media Records albums