SIGH | Kraków

Iconic and one of the most innovative bands in black metal history, Japanese Sigh, will perform on September 4 at Kraków's Zaścianek, accompanied by American outfit Devil Master.

If your debut album is released on a label owned by Euronymous's Deathlike Silence, you instantly gain cult status. Such is the case with Japanese Sigh, whose "Scorn Defeat" came out shortly after the death of Mayhem's guitarist. Yet the band from the Land of the Flowering Cherry has earned its reputation primarily through its approach to composition—arguably the most experimental of its time—which it has consistently developed across subsequent albums. Led by Mirai Kawashima, the group has developed its black metal in unconventional directions from the start: first incorporating piano sounds, then drawing on progressive, psychedelic, and jazz influences. With an almost four-decade career of remarkable richness, Sigh stands as an absolutely unique band whose concerts take on a theatrical dimension.

American Devil Master has established itself as one of the wildest and most untamed bands of the wave merging black metal with punk that has swept the scene in recent years. Adding gothic rock influences to the mix, the Philadelphia quartet stands out for its sheer catchiness, demonstrated so far across two albums: "Satan Spits on Children of Light" (2019) and "Ecstasies of Never Ending Night" (released three years later). Devil Master sound as if they dwelled in the dungeons of some abandoned castle. In September, they will crawl out of its ruins and return to Poland brimming with devilish vigor.