Sigh - A Tribute to Venom (2008)

During the past twenty plus years Sigh's made a career out of reinventing themselves on each new release as well as just being one of the most diverse and weird bands out there, ever. They've also made it a known fact since the early days that they are huge fans of Venom, in fact way back in '95 they released an EP called, 'To Hell and Back: Sigh's Tribute to Venom,' as well they've had a few Venom covers on various other EPs, live recordings and splits too.

In 2008 Mirai's super sexy girlfriend, Dr. Mikannibal joined as the bands new vocalist and this EP simply titled, 'A Tribute to Venom' was released to introduce her and yet again pay more homage to Venom. The EP comes as a 12" blood red vinyl with the artwork etched into it, as well it conveniently also contained a CD version of the EP.

'Black Metal' kicks off the EP with blaring sirens, thunderous explosions and an evil voice introducing Sigh. On this one all covers (except one) are kept utterly true to the originals, save for maybe Miss Mikannibal's voice, which is a bit on the raspy side, but otherwise these are totally spot on covers. The production is loud, dynamic and warm, but still with an old school vibe and feeling within the guitars. There's also just a shit ton of fun and good energy spewing out of these songs that just makes them all the more enjoyable.

'Die Hard' really sticks out for some reason and I'm almost inclined to say that I like this version even better than the original, while, 'Countess Bathory' is great, especially love how much emotion is placed on the vocals. The other four songs are fantastic too, 'Schizo' is totally fun to rock out too, as well as 'Teacher's Pet' & 'Witching Hour,' which have always been Venom songs I've enjoyed a lot. The cover of 'Mayhem with Mercy' is actually the one song that the band tweaks around a bit and its changed to an epic soundtrack-ish keyboard piece, which frankly is way cooler than Venom's. The early mentioned, 'Black Metal' is exactly what you'd expect and its great too.

'A Tribute to Venom' is surely a must for Sigh and Venom fans and personally I remember I bought this vinyl from The End Records for just $3 a little over two years ago when they were having a sale. Fucking deal, baby!