With a title referencing the band’s original underground live release ‘The Eastern Force of Evil’ released back in 1997, this new performance captured recently in Japan features the line-up of founder & mainman Mirai Kawashima on bass/vocals, Dr. Mikannibal on vocals/saxophone, Nozomu Wakai on guitar, and Takeo Shimoda on drums.
Following swiftly on the back of the release of the highly acclaimed ‘Shiki’ album and coming in a year which also marks 30 years since Sigh’s highly influential debut, ‘Scorn Defeat’, ‘Live: The Eastern Forces of Evil 2022’ captures the band in fine form as they perform a wide collection of old and new tracks covering all the way from the aforementioned first album, up until the band’s first Peaceville studio album, ‘Shiki’. With flawless musicianship and accompanied by a stellar audio mix, ‘Live: The Eastern Forces of Evil 2022’ truly represents the very best of Sigh’s legacy.
Frontman Mirai had the following to say about the new album: Our new live album was recorded in August 2022 whilst we performed our live stream that we did during the pandemic, which was a cliché in the world under the Pandemic. However, the recording of both video and audio, turned out by far better than we had expected and we thought it’d be a good idea to physically release it rather than just putting it on YouTube or somewhere.
Mirai continues: This is a document not only about our blood-drenched stage but also about the new era of Sigh that began with Nozomu on guitar. 2023 marks the 30th anniversary of our debut album “Scorn Defeat”, and “Live: Eastern Forces of Evil 2022” covers our whole career from “Scorn Defeat” to the latest “Shiki” released in 2022. Don’t miss it!
The CD/DVD edition of includes both audio and visual presentations of the show, and also features 2 extra tracks, including a cover of the Death classic, ‘Evil Dead’. The DVD also includes 3 additional promo video tracks in the shape of ‘Mayonaka No Kaii’, ‘Satsui’, and ‘Shoujahitsumetsu’.
The band have announced they’ll be performing at two festivals later this year – Netherlands Samhain Festival and UK’s Damnation Festival (2 different sets) including ‘Scorn Defeat’ in its entirety.
28 / 29. 10. 2023 – NL – Samhain Festival – Muziekgieterij, Maastricht
03 + 04.11/23 – UK – Damnation Festival – BEC Arena Manchester