ALBUM REVIEW: I Saw The World’s End (Hangman’s Hymn MMXXV) – Sigh

Over nearly four decades and twelve albums, SIGH have been an unparalleled force, pushing the envelope in the avant-garde and black metal genres. The Japanese outfit have continually redefined themselves and confounded expectations throughout their career, beginning with the extreme black metal of 1993’s Scorn Defeat through to the more progressive work of the past few years. Amidst their discography, Hangman’s Hymn (2007) stands out – a tour de force of thrash metal loaded with classical influences and instrumentation. Eighteen years on, the band have revisited the landmark work: a full re-recording and rechristening with the band’s current line-up.

It’s a curious choice from the band. None of the tracks have been re-imagined; structurally, I Saw The World’s End (Hangman’s Hymn MMXXV) is identical to its predecessor across each song and part. This aligns with band leader and vocalist Mirai Kawashima‘s motivations – the enigmatic frontman considers Hangman’s Hymn to be a compositional high point of his career, but lacking in both production and performance.

There’s plenty to back that up: the smash-cut drama of Introitus / Kyrie that kicks off the album is sensational, a heady mix of thrash-speed guitar riffs, staccato horns and surging choirs. Whereas the original had a videogame feel to the insistent artificiality of the classical instruments, I Saw The World’s End leans harder on the guitars (no longer a mass of indistinct distortion, but no less heavy) to power the riffs and melody, letting the horns and strings add drama rather than drive it.

Cleaner, crisp production lends newfound accessibility to the material, although it does run counter to the traditions of black metal and its deliberate aural challenge. Though the genre has come a long way since the 90s, and SIGH were never a band to not evolve with the times. The classic Inked In Blood, listed among the top metal songs of the 21st century by Loudwire, loses some of its heft here. The rough-and-ready production and in-your-face synthetic instrumentation added to its frenetic appeal, and the cleaner re-record just feels a little more controlled, at odds with the milieu by comparison. Yet here and throughout the album, the guitar solos are at another level of thrilling and complex, Nozomu Wakai adding far more to the source material with outrageous runs and harmonies.

The rerecord sacrifices none of the relentless pace of Hangman’s Hymn. At its core, this is an album played out with thrash metal speed and attitude, augmented with unhinged German symphonic flourishes and vaudeville horror, manifest in Kawashima‘s evil cackles. A keen ear for memorable hooks permeates that intensity and attitude, be they the riffs and horns of Death with Dishonor, or the clean vocals of the (comparatively slower) Me-Devil. One noticeable upgrade, bar the production, is the drumming from Mike Heller. His take on the original’s slightly one-note approach to blast beats and double kicks ups the complexity and variety, lessening the sonic exhaustion with rhythmic change-ups and masterful fills.

Another notable change is to the character of Kawashima‘s voice, inevitable nearly twenty years on. His style has evolved over the years, growing in definition and natural rasp, and I Saw The World’s End reflects that. It works throughout – these are his songs, and whether in full growl, scream or pitched singing voice, he conveys plenty of anguish and fury. Listening to versions old and new of The Master Malice, there is less immediacy to the higher-pitched vocals and the standard growls, but it’s simply different, not lesser.

And there remains something timeless to these songs, regardless of their form. Be it the extensive ambition of the closing suite of songs and movements beginning with Overture into Rex Tremendae / I Saw The World’s End, or the high drama of Dies Irae into The Master Malice, this album never ceases to surprise. A melting pot of sonorous choirs, black metal fury, thrash riffage, wild guitar solos and unabashed cheesy symphony, in lesser hands, would be an absolute mess. Here, it remains something incredible, the realisation of an avant-garde vision few other bands could conceptualise, much less execute.

Where you stand on I Saw The World’s End (Hangman’s Hymn MMXXV) most likely depends on your familiarity with the original text. Inarguably, this is an easier listen in 2025; its refinements and performance, on balance, are a step up from the original. Longtime fans of Hangman’s Hymn and SIGH, accustomed to the original’s idiosyncrasies and black metal abrasion, may find this all a bit uncanny valley. However, it remains a stunning piece of songcraft, no less relevant today than its predecessor eighteen years ago, and an essential listen for fans of black metal and avant-garde alike.

Rating: 9/10

I Saw The World’s End (Hangman’s Hymn MMXXV) is out now via Peaceville Records.

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