For this week’s offerings, we have a double feature of double takes: two separate instances of looking back, one for improvement and one for nostalgia.  In both cases, we’re definitely drinking from the cup of heresy, baby.  On the altar today: Sigh’s I Saw the World’s End (Hangman’s Hymn MMXXV) and Eris Cider House’s Pepper Jam.

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The Tunes: Sigh – I Saw the World’s End (Hangman’s Hymn MMXXV)

This year marks 35 years of Sigh being a band, and while they haven’t had what anyone would call a stable lineup in that time, Mirai Kawashima has always helmed the project and seen it through just as many stylistic changes as well as personnel changes.  One could argue that some of Sigh’s best work has been their more recent albums (we’re massive fans of Shiki over here) but Mirai has chosen to mark this anniversary by righting a perceived wrong and rerecording an oft-overlooked piece of their past in the form of Hangman’s Hymn.  Released very nearly twelve years ago to the day, the album was Sigh’s first concept record and a blend of 80’s inspired thrash with German classical symphonies, and served as a transition point away from raw Scandinavian black metal.  The end result, compositionally, is excellent, but from a production standpoint it’s not quite the complete package Mirai and the rest of Sigh wanted it to be.  Everything across the board, especially the guitars and drums, sound thin and wispy.  There’s no bite anywhere, and not even the blistering riffs and solos can save the record from sounding anemic. 

Fortunately, I Saw the World’s End corrects this in spades.  Modern recording techniques add both beef and a razor sharp attack to the guitars that were missing from the original mix, and the drums (courtesy of the inimitable Mike Heller) are no longer “excessively monotonous” as Mirai puts it.  Quite the opposite, in fact: everything pops so much more now, especially the orchestration.  It’s much more noticeable as an undercurrent and throughline in each track as opposed to popping in and out.  Also, orchestration with real instruments, like what was done on I Saw the World’s End, will always sound so much more rich and full than a digital facsimile.  If you like modern sounding black metal albums, this is probably going to irk you a little: it’s far from raw and unpolished, but I do think that the end result is something that Mirai and Sigh are going to be much happier with in the long term.  Rerecordings are always a tricky thing, and Mirai has no desire to go back through their entire back catalogue, but I do believe this brings an album that often gets tossed aside and makes it much more captivating, as well as making it a great entry point into Sigh’s discography if you’re not already initiated.

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The Booze: Eris Cider House’s Pepper Jam

Eris is a place Angela and I have been to before, written in these hallowed halls about before, and got really swept up in a few years ago.  Like a lot of torrid passions though, we kinda forgot about them in favor of other, newer affairs, but recently a friend was mentioning that they went to the taproom and I remembered how much I liked their stuff.  As fate would have it, our local TJoes even had a six-pack of Pepper Jam waiting just for me, it seemed, at my next grocery trip.  Eris does a lot of unconventional ciders, and Pepper Jam is quite tasty but it’s not for the faint of heart.  The base is apple and peach, which is a really delicious combination on it’s own, but the kicker, quite literally, is a healthy dose of the titular chile de árbol.  I absolutely love spice in a cider, and spice in general, so I’m quite pleased with the end result, but make no mistake about it: this is a spicy drink.  The immediate sensation is one of firecrackers going off in your mouth; it’s not a crazy intense heat immediately, but it tickles all the way down to the back of your throat before settling into a warm burn in the pit of your stomach.  The fruitiness of the chile perfectly compliments the sweetness of the apple and peach, though, and it’s the kind of drink perfectly suited to summertime. 

Honestly, you’re gonna sweat a little bit but that’ll keep you cool poolside or mowing the lawn or just relaxing on a hot day.

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Until next our paths cross, dear reader: cheers and be good to each other.

-Ian