Goh-Ka

Twenty-five years ago, Sigh exploded the boundaries of extreme metal on their masterpiece Imaginary Sonicscape. Mirai Kawashima and his collaborators (currently his wife, Dr. Mikannibal, and new-ish guitarist Nozomu Wakai) have explored the outer reaches of metallic weirdness on their work since then, but none of their efforts quite clicked as effectively. Goh-Ka feels like another breakthrough. Kawashima works traditional Japanese instruments into the core of the sound here, perfect for an album centered around paintings depicting the nine stages of human decay according to Buddhism. Heavy on shamisen but also synths, the compositions combine the whole spectrum of black and death metal with prog rock and even some classical bombast. There’s a lot going on, and while Kawashima has made circus music in the past, this time he keeps all three rings under his command. He’s smart enough to use interludes (both pastoral and discordant) to bridge the longer tracks together. It’s the closest he’s come to conjuring the vibe of the 60s Japanese horror flicks like Onibaba and Kwaidan that so clearly inspired him. It’s as much a triumph as those tragic tales.