Hangman's Hymn: Musikalische Exequien is an album by the Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 heavy metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 band Sigh

Sigh (band)

is a Japanese extreme metal band from Tokyo, formed in 1990. They are credited as being one of the first Japanese black metal bands, when the majority of black metal in early 1990s came from Scandinavia. They gradually shifted from a more traditional black/thrash metal sound, to a more...

. It is their first album for The End Records

The End Records

The End Records is an independent record label, founded in 1998 in San Diego. Founder Andreas Katsambas initially wanted to bring attention to some underground bands he admired. In 2002, The End moved to Salt Lake City, when his wife took a job at the University of Utah. The label moved...

. Audio samples on the The End website suggest Sigh have kept their clean vocals style as shown on their previous album as well as returned to a black metal

Black metal

Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....

 styled vocalization.

Sigh's lead singer Mirai Kawashima has described the style of the music as a "German thrash-metal

Thrash metal

Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...

-meets-symphonies" style. The album sounds more akin to black metal than the band's previous two releases, with far more added symphonic elements.

In June 2006, a message from Kawashima was posted on the Slaughter Garden, asking for vocal help with two parts of the album; he wanted volunteers singing lyrics in Latin to send him audio files so he could build up an epic chorus.

Some tracks of the Album is named after various parts from the Requiem mass. It also holds some progressions and melodies from Mozart's Requiem in D-minor

Samples from the track "Me-Devil" are featured on the Global Metal

Global Metal

Global Metal is a 2008 documentary film directed by Scot McFadyen and Canadian anthropologist Sam Dunn. It is a followup to their successful 2005 documentary, Metal: A Headbanger's Journey. The film's international premiere took place at the Bergen International Film Festival on October 17th 2007...

trailer.

Hangman's Hymn also features some of the shortest songs in the Sigh discography.

Act II

4. "Dies Iræ/The Master Malice" – 5:45


5. "The Memories as a Sinner" – 3:32


6. "Death with Dishonor" – 3:04


7. "In Devil's Arms" – 4:33

Act III

8. "Overture/Rex Tremendæ/I Saw the World's End" – 6:06


9. "Salvation in Flame/Confutatis" – 5:08


10. "Hangman's Hymn/In Paradisum/Das Ende" – 5:11

Personnel

• Mirai Kawasima - Vocal, orchestrations, piano
• Satoshi Fujinami - Bass
• Shinichi Ishikawa - Guitar
• Junichi Harashima - Drums

• Rob Urbinati (Sacrifice
  Sacrifice (band)
  Sacrifice is a Canadian thrash metal band from Toronto, Ontario. The band was formed by guitarists Rob Urbinati and Joe Rico in 1983. Sacrifice played a prominent role in the '80s underground metal scene in Toronto, and grew to release four studio albums before parting ways in 1993...
  
  ) - Guitar solo on #4
• Mike "Gunface" McKenzie (The Red Chord
  The Red Chord
  The Red Chord is an American grindcore band from Revere, Massachusetts, formed in 1999. The band is made up of vocalist Guy Kozowyk, guitarist Mike "Gunface" McKenzie, and bassist Greg Weeks. The band gained a fanbase with its 2002 debut album Fused Together in Revolving Doors. The second album,...
  
  ) - Guitar solo on #7
• Chuck Keller (Ares Kingdom) - Guitar solo on #5
• Aurielle Gregory (Giant Squid
  Giant Squid (band)
  Giant Squid is a post-metal band from San Francisco, California, currently signed to Translation Loss and Vega Vinyl. They were previously signed to The End Records.-Early years :...
  
  ) - Female vocal on #4
• Tim Conroy - Trumpet on #1, #4, #10
• Steven Sagala (Enforsaken) - Requiem choir
• Void (Samas) - Requiem choir
• Glendalis Gonzalez - Requiem choir
• Claire Joseph - Requiem choir
• Zack Bissell - Requiem choir
• Grant Taylor - Requiem choir
• T. Osada – Audio engineering
  Audio engineering
  An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
  
  
• James Murphy – Mastering engineer
  Mastering engineer
  A mastering engineer is one skilled in the practice of taking audio that has been previously mixed in either the analog or digital domain as mono, stereo, or multichannel formats and preparing it for use in distribution, whether by physical media such as a CD, vinyl record, or as some method of...
  
  

External links

• Hangman's Hymn at The End Records
  The End Records
  The End Records is an independent record label, founded in 1998 in San Diego. Founder Andreas Katsambas initially wanted to bring attention to some underground bands he admired. In 2002, The End moved to Salt Lake City, when his wife took a job at the University of Utah. The label moved...
  
  
• Mirai's post at The Slaughter Garden website