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Sigh Treats London To A Selection Of Old School Deep Cuts With Support From Craven Idol

The Dome in Tufnell Park may not be as recognised as The Underworld, or have the financial backing of the 02 Academies, but metal fans will attest that it's a venue headbangers in London have to keep an eye on. There have been some certified legends taking the stage here, from Raven to Eyehategod and so many more, not to mention a former home base for rising company Pro Wrestling Eve, the Dome offers two floors of live entertainment, and that was in no short supply tonight when Sigh rolled into town to perform a setlist consisting of material from their first four releases, "Scorn Defeat," "Infidel Art," "Ghastly Funeral Theatre" and "Hail Horror Hail."

Kicking off the festivities tonight were local black metal crew Craven Idol. They've been around for a while now but I confess to being unfamiliar with their work. As it turns out, they were a great choice to open the show, delivering black metal fury from beginning to end. Their stage presence is pretty strong and the music itself holds even firmer, with the white hot rage being complimented by some truly excellent rhythms which keeps it all together. There were a number of people in the audience who didn't know the group, but many of them were won over pretty quickly by the raw power of Craven Idol. They came, they thrashed, they left and the audience was better for it.

Stripped down to the trio of founder Mirai Kawashima on vocals & bass, guitarist Nozomu Wakai and drummer Tomotaka Ishikawa, it was quite a different set up from the last time I had the pleasure of seeing Sigh, which was more of a family affair. The three musicians were here to play material from the old days, including some songs which hadn't been performed in years, and they got the ball rolling in style with "Izuna," the opening number from the classic album, "Infidel Art." This sounded great but the show seemed to kick into a higher gear with the title track from their third full length, "Hail Horror Hail," which was absolutely superb.

As always, there were plenty of theatrics from Sigh, this time mostly being provided by Wakai, who unsheathed his sword and dripped blood across his Oni inspired face paint, before launching into some truly fierce guitar work. "The Zombie Terror" was the second and last helping from "Infidel Art" and was another highlight of the show, which is impressive considering it's only the second time it's ever been played live. Of course, their debut "Scorn Defeat" was given plenty of exposure, all coming towards the end of the set as "A Victory Of Dakini," "The Knell" and "At My Funeral" were played back to back.

Kawashima then addressed the audience to let them know that normally they'd end the set there, but since England were playing Norway in only a few minutes, they wanted to finish with something special. He announced that black metal isn't from Norway and was born in England, before treating the crowd to a storming rendition of the iconic Venom song, "Black Metal," albeit after some technical hiccups. This was the fourth time I'd seen Sigh and every time I do, I instantly look forward to watching them again. Absolutely fantastic.