Sigh - I Saw The World's End - Hangman's Hymn MMXXV - review
Sigh - I Saw The World's End - Hangman's Hymn MMXXV - review
Band
Sigh Release date
June 13, 2025 Tracklist
01. Introitus / Kyrie02. Inked In Blood
03. Me-Devil
04. Dies Irae
05. The Master Malice
06. The Memories As A Sinner
07. Death With Dishonor
08. In Devil's Arms
09. Overture
10. Rex Tremendae / I Saw The World's End
11. Salvation In Flame / Confutatis
12. Finale: Hangman's Hymn / In Paradisum / Das Ende
A review by
Roman Doez June 18, 2025
Hangman’s Hymn is definitely Sigh’s most straightforward album. This is felt in the riffs, the drumming, the orchestration, the (barely audible) bass, and the album’s overall hyper-aggressive attitude. From the very first second of “Introitus / Kyrie” to the end of the album, it’s pretty much blast beats in your face for 45 minutes. I Saw The World’s End immediately changes things up by having Mike Heller on drums, aka someone who adds a lot more variation to his playstyle. The orchestration is performed by real instruments instead of MIDI files, and you can actually hear the bass this time around.
Additionally, some sections have been spiced up and sound a lot more complex than on Hangman’s Hymn. Take for example “Death With Dishonor”’s pre-chorus section, which has a lot more going on in its re-recorded form. All these small changes accumulate over the course of the album and make it a noticeably different experience. It’s more complex and dynamic, but also noticeably less “in your face” than the monolith that was Hangman’s Hymn. This is both a positive and a negative, and it really affects every song in a different way.
Mirai’s vocals are weaker this time around, but this is compensated for by Dr. Mikannibal’s singing, aka the best thing that has happened to Sigh since 2007. The original Hangman’s Hymn always felt to me like it was written with two vocalists in mind, and I Saw The World’s End definitely cements that idea further. Her vocal range is a lot wider than Mirai’s, and she gets to showcase it throughout the album. Some tracks have shared vocal duties (“Rex Tremendae / I Saw The World’s End”), some are pretty much Mikannibal standalones (“In Devil’s Arms”), and others are closer to a Mirai standalone (“Introitus Kyrie”). This adds a lot of diversity, something that was not really Hangman’s Hymn’s strong suit.
Besides Mirai’s vocals, most of my complaints would relate to the orchestration. I Saw The World’s End uses its symphonic elements more subtly than Hangman’s Hymn, EXCEPT FOR THAT DAMN TRUMPET. Oh my God, the trumpet annoys me to no end. It’s obnoxious and feels out of place, like in “Death With Dishonor”’s chorus, but it also replaces the choirs on some of the tracks. Songs like “In Devil’s Arms”, “Salvation In Flame / Confutatis”, and especially “Finale: Hangman's Hymn / In Paradisum / Das Ende” now sound meek and underwhelming in sections that used to be grandiose and emotional.
This push for a subtler integration of the orchestral elements also means that some little details have been removed, like the album’s leitmotif playing in the background of “Introitus / Kyrie”, or sometimes whole important sections are so toned down you can barely hear the original melody, such as on “Salvation In Flames / Confutatis”.
As stated before, this new approach affects every song in a different way. I would say “In Devil’s Arms” or “Finale: Hangman's Hymn / In Paradisum / Das Ende” are worse than their original versions, but “The Memories As A Sinner” and “Rex Tremendae / I Saw The World End” are complete improvements from their Hangman’s Hymn counterparts. They were among the weaker tracks on that record and have been strongly overhauled, with a special shoutout to “The Memories As A Sinner” and its small use of clean vocals from Mikannibal, which I did not know I needed in my life.
Ultimately, I Saw The World’s End is going for something completely different and in most ways, it works. Sometimes it works even better than Hangman’s Hymn, but some of changes are frustrating and make the experience as a whole inferior to the original. Still, this is a great reinterpretation, and a nice appetizer for whatever Sigh may have in store for us next time around.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 9 |
| Originality: | 8 |
| Production: | 8 |
Written on 18.06.2025 by
Written on 18.06.2025 by
It's not good music if it doesn't give you a headache Comments
Comments:
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Posts: 96  |
Posts: 96
Sigh with the 3rd 'I' open 3G wiLL be here before we know it - I'm hopin agreed that the experience is a double-edged sword but for any Sigh fan this is not to be ignored
---- No one can fend off 100 multi-colored Draculas not even Count Chocula or Vlad's Dad (Fat Drac) maybe Leslie Nielsen: Dead & Lovin EET
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 Posts: 483 |
Posts: 483
Was surprised to hear they re-did the album, but thoroughly enjoyable. The original lacked the production and depth in the mix much like another classic Gallow's Gallery. Many of the tracks do feel like a totally new or different song and only time will tell which version I prefer. Maybe i'll pick both
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 Posts: 6685 |
Posts: 6685
I had the same initial reaction: I tend to groan anytime I see the news that somebody is re-recording something, and for all the successful examples out there I overwhelmingly distrust any such venture. But when I saw that this time it was going to be Sigh, more than anything I was just curious. I don't think it ever entered my mind that this could be bad, maybe just unnecessary; I don't think they've ever done anything that wasn't worth listening to at least a few times. Plus, for all their wonderful inventiveness and musical complexity, they've never really had decent production up until Shiki, so I'd actually admit that they could benefit from a new attempt - and, of all albums, Hangman's Hymn: Musikalische Exequien is an obvious choice, since it has a much heavier, more direct metal base than their usual style and a lot of orchestrations that could use some more life and depth. It seems like the sort of thing Lasse Lammert could help draw more substance out of. Sure enough, my first impression is very positive. On returning to the original I realized that it really is one of their best albums - and I think I probably knew that deep down, but they have such a diverse discography of such consistent quality that it can be hard to make that determination (and I'm one of the few who thinks that Graveward is one of their best, so there are a lot of potential favorites to choose from). But I hadn’t clocked just how much of that album got ferreted away into the back of my mind, and now I’m aware of how much it stands out. The production and orchestrations have so much more depth now. The energy behind the album feels like something else entirely now. Mike Heller excels once again. After the huge difference he made for Shiki I was sure he’d benefit this greatly and he did; I really wish You Oshima were still in, because with him, Heller, and Dr. Mikannibal, Sigh could really have a dream line-up now. But then again, I don’t know how much Oshima’s style would gel with this era of Sigh. Fortunately, I can't say I had the same complaints about the trumpet (maybe that'll come on further listening), but I definitely agree with how great it is to have two lead vocalists this time around. I'm going to have to listen to this several more times. And for once, that's not because I have to give it a terrible review, but because I actually enjoyed it and I want to enjoy it again. Crazy. Still maybe a bit of a cop-out making this the "I" album (it is an "H" album, this is clearly cheating), and even with all these noticeable improvements I wonder whether it will ever displace the original - flawed it is, but it's had so much time as the only version of this album that I'm not sure something else could take its place, even if it's not an all-timer for me like it is for you. But after one listen I'm content to rank this among the most successful re-recording ventures I've ever encountered here.
---- "Earth is small and I hate it" - Lum Invader I'm the Agent of Steel.
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Posts: 639  |
Posts: 639
The OG Hangman is one of my favorite Sigh albums, and would be my 2007 Album of the Year if 2007 wasn't so ludicrously stacked at the top. Different sound, same story, completely love it
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