Sigh — Hail Horror Hail( 2CD)

First released in the late 1990’s, Hail Horror Hail stands as one of the most unpredictable, at times jarring, and creatively demented black metal albums of all time. The nine-track affair blends BM/ metal stylings with rapid jumps/ darts into other genres, for a true sonic ghost train/ rollercoaster experience. Here on, Peaceville is a recent two-CD reissue of the album. On the first disc, there’s the original album and on the second disc are ten tracks- bringing together a selection of unreleased/ rough mixes and promo tracks.

Hail Horror Hail appeared in the year 1997- it was the Japanese band's third album, and was originally released on the UK’s Cacophonous Records, which was most known for putting out early albums from the likes of Cradle Of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, and Bal-Sagoth. I can still recall buying the album on its original release- and at the time it was a true game changer, and even now, all these years later, it retains its impact, element of surprise, and moments of wonderful creativity.

The two CD’s come presented in a clear jewel case, with a twelve-page booklet. This takes in the tracks' lyrics. And a four-page interview with lead songwriter Mirai Kawashima by Dayal Patterson, who penned the definitive book on Black metal, The Cult Never Dies.

The album kicks off with its title track, which opens up all guitar solo-bound NWOBHM with sing-song BM vocals on top. As the track continues, you can make out organ stabs and roaring/ crashing textures. We then suddenly shift to jaunting orchestral keyboards, and a swooning film-like cue blending acoustic guitars/ emotional strings. Before once more switching back to the opening NWOBHM vibe- but with more speed & soloing. As we move through the first half of the album, we go from "12 Souls"- which opens for cinematic orchestration, a brief sample of a dog panting/ barking- before moving into chugging & slugging doomed BM, which suddenly breaks for musak keys/ vibes, before shifting back into dense doom/ BM with baying vocals, shifting noise layers/ keyboard sustains/ darken choirs.

In its second half, we move from "Invitation to Die” which opens with bounding piano keys, acoustic guitar strum, hand claps, and almost rapped BM vocals. As it goes on, easy-listening strings move in, with moments of Spanish guitar soloing, as well as snippets of a baby crying. “Curse of Izanagi” starts off relatively formal with bounding BM guitars, crashing drums, and shredded blacked vocals. But as the track goes on, a rising/ brighter keyboard layer is added- as we shift to more formal galloping metal stylings with rising choir/fantasy game keyboard jaunting’s, before spiralling into blackened speed metal.

The second CD takes in ten tracks, which go from rough mixes, album outtakes, and re-recorded versions. The rough mixes show the band fine-tuning/ pulling together the varied sonic threads of the tracks, with, as you’d imagine, raw/ more jarring edges/ details- which are of course ironed out in the final album version. There’s also an instrumental version of the track “42 49”. And we get an album outtake track “Cremation”, which is all about bound/ blurring layers of piano playing, which shifts from romantic, mysterious, with sudden darts of easy listening string pomp.

It certainly is great to have this avant-garde BM masterwork back in print again, and while the band have gone onto recorded albums after this, Hail Horror Hail remains a defining point in not just their discography, but the wider avant-garde/experimental BM genre.