As most people would have noticed, Sigh's album titles spell out their name (including their first ep). So I was wondering, which of the 3 sets of albums that spell SIGH is their best era?
The 3 sets are:
SIGH 1 - Scorn Defeat, Infidel Art, Ghastly Funeral Theatre and Hail Horror Hail.
SIGH 2 - Scenario IV: Dread Dreams, Imaginary Sonicscape, Gallows Gallery (the original, not the 2007 reissue) and Hangman's Hymn: Musikalische Exequien.
SIGH 3 - Scenes From Hell, In Somniphobia, Graveward and Heir To Despair.

C'mon. It's not even a fair fight. Set 2 has all the best albums

Yeah^ Set 2 is definitely the best. Ghastly Funeral Theatre is one of their best too though.

Color me Mr. Unpopular Opinion then, but as much as I love Imaginary Soniscapes I had to go with Sigh 3. Love In Somniphobia and Heir To Despair is unbelievably cathchy and mesmerizing, I've found myself coming back to it more than any other Sigh album since it got released.

SIGH 2 has 3 of my 4 favourite Sigh albums, with In Somniphobia being the odd one out. So 2 has to be my pick.

It's a tough choice, but I think I have to say SIGH 2.

I don't think Sigh has a single bad, or even average, album and I love all three SIGHs very much, but I think SIGH 1 is the weakest. Scorn Defeat and Infidel Art represent Sigh before they had discovered their full potential; great albums, but the least interesting in the catalogue. Ghastly Funeral Theatre is fabulous, but also just an EP, so I couldn't stack it against a full G album. Hail Horror Hail is the only part of the first SIGH that I count among their best works.

As for SIGH 3, Graveward is a perfect 10 for me, which I recognize is somewhat out-of-step with the typical assessment. Heir To Despair might be my #3 after that and Imaginary Sonicscape, so right there SIGH 3 has a strong case, but Scenes From Hell I'd rank as their weakest of this century and In Somniphobia right after that.

SIGH 2 has Imaginary Sonicscape, another 10/10, and while I wouldn't say I like Gallows Gallery or Hangman's Hymn more than Heir To Despair individually, together they make for strong backup, and Scenario IV is just icing on the cake.

Having said all this, it has been a good, long while since I sat down and listened to an album that wasn't Imaginary Sonicscape, Ghastly Funeral Theatre, or Heir To Despair in full, so it's possible that I would feel differently after refreshing my memory of each album. In any case, all of these albums are great and I'd take any of them over most other albums out there, so Sigh has a very impressive record.

Tough choice between 2 & 3, but I have to go with 2. Those are the albums I first discovered of Sigh & have stuck with me the longest.

I think we can all agree that the race is close between 2 & 3, with 2 barely taking the win