listening experience

Listening experience

For this assignment i chose "Diabolic suicide" from the Japanese band called "Sigh", as this album , specially this has got many elements new to me , and i dare to say that it is one of the strangest things i have ever heard, and probably will never hear something quiet like it.This band is Japanese which also explains why this is quiet estrange.

Although this isn't part of the assignment it is necessary to explain part of what goes behind the song,as it is not only about how it sounds but the how brilliantly composed it was.This song is over 7 minutes long, and has got a strange variety of passages thought the song, the actual structure of the song is not something heard a lot in this style of music. Making part of the the beginning of the second wave of black  metal, this band brings many elements of classical music/composers into their music.Recorded in a low quality studio,with low quality equipment, these guys manage to get away with it, as the record is so strange,the quality of the recording , and the incredible ability to compose, they cut any feelings away from the music.
SONIC DESCRIPTION
This song was released and recorded around 1998-1999, and the sound is not the best but there are many qualities that make it a very good recording.
To start with,something that called my attention from the beginning is the panning of the song, it has got an amazing creative use of the panning, all the way through the song the drum fills will start on the right and and finish on the left ( many recordings do it form left to right )

 Also, many of extra instruments like bells will travel across both sides of the speaker/earphones ,a clear example is at the the break of the song, when there is a voice saying "suicide" that travels around the panning making it sound like it is travelling around your head.It makes everything feel like if the band existed inside your head. It also has this horror-circus movie sound over all.At the intro you can hear wind,wind that can be heard only in very quiet places,often where there isn't buildings but nature, as the way the sound is traveling doesn't sound interrupted by the shapes of buildings.

Many of the low frequencies( bass,low notes etc. ) don't sound powerful , giving it a "dead" sound,it's rawness was achieved mainly by the way the song was mixed and mastered.At the start you can hear the radio frequencies of a radio , in very low quality and very distorted, it's that white noise that you get when you are changing between radio stations on an old radio.

Then the whole band starts playing, the drums haven't got reverb on them, they sound very tight , although they have a very thin sound.
The guitars rhythm guitars have got a lot of distortion, but the gain settings are not that high,and they are have quiet a lot of treble. The lead guitar in the main part where it is played is considerably louder than the rhythm guitar, they have more gain and they have reverb on them which makes it easier to notice and differentiate from the other guitar.

On a small part of the song an acoustic song plays using a lot of reverb,with a ambience background noise, like if it took place near a water source,most likely to the the sea.On top of this, the band uses a synthesiser and sampler, creating that pipe organ sound.

Here you can listen to the song , and read the lyrics

All my misery and all my hate

All my regrets and all my fate

To my breast I'm holding them all

What you hear will be the executioner's call

All my blood and all my tears

All my anger and all my fears

To my breast I'm holding them all

What you fear will be the executioner's call

All my reasons and all my treason

All my illusions and all my disillusions

To my breast I'm holding them all

What you hear will be the executioner's call

Buried is my beautiful death and

Buried is my miserable life

My precious life was poisoned and then my death

My death will be raped

I was dreaming in the darkness when they called my name

Never save me please!

Rising is my vengeance when my death collides and life fades

Never save me please!

I was dreaming in the darkness when they called my name

Never save me please!

Rising is my vengeance it is DIABOLIC SUICIDE!

Never save me please!

Confusion starts to rise and

What I've done is a sin to win

Mercy isn't a key to me as

Light is in my hand and darkness is in my hand

When the candle burns out and

When the flame of life burns out

It's the beginning of the end

It's the beginning of the vengeance, my friend

Hidden feelings invoked, I'm choked, now I need a sacrifice

I will sacrifice myself to achieve my goal, time will come tonight

When another love is born and when another death is born

Souls will be torn, my thorn, and let them go

They're forgotten and forlorn