apanese black metal veterans Sigh have announced their new studio album, ‘Goh-ka’, which is set for release on September 4 via Peaceville Records.
The upcoming effort features several notable guest musicians, including Frédéric Leclercq (Kreator, ex-DragonForce) on bass and Mike Heller (ex-Fear Factory) on drums. Opeth frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt also makes a guest appearance on the track ‘Unputenpu’.
According to the band’s official press release, ‘Goh-ka’ carries a layered meaning rooted in Buddhist philosophy:
“The album title ‘Goh-ka’ has a triple meaning, being: 業火 infernal fire scorching sinners, 劫火 a huge fire that burns down the world at the end of time, and 業果 karma.
The primary theme permeating the album is Kuso-zu; a series of Buddhist paintings or illustrations depicting the nine stages of a human body’s decomposition after death, created to encourage meditation on the impermanence of life, the inevitability of death, and the detachment from physical beauty and worldly attachment.
It openly shows the harsh reality that no matter how beautiful you are, you’ll be dead and rot sooner or later. And Kuso-shi is a poem based on these paintings. The artworks on the cover and in the booklet of ‘Goh-ka’ are therefore Kuso-zu themselves.”
‘Goh-ka’ Track Listing:
- ‘Kuso-shi 1, 2, and 3’
- ‘Jigoku-Zoshi 1: Unkamusho’
- ‘Anzenshokon’
- ‘Kuso-shi 4, 5, and 6’
- ‘Shoso’
- ‘Unputenpu’ (feat. Mikael Åkerfeldt)
- ‘Jinmenjushin’
- ‘Jigoku-Zoshi 2: Tokatsujigoku’
- ‘Kushukankyo’
- ‘Kuso-shi 7’
- ‘Kuso-shi 8 and 9 / Mettaijakujo’
Pre-orders for ‘Goh-ka’ are available now, while the band has also shared an official album trailer ahead of its September release.
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