Macclesfield band SIGILS offers up a fusion of post-rock and post-metal to create a deliciously intense sound of emotional melodies and sonic vastness that they describe as “immersive, dynamic and cathartic.”
The band started out in 2022, when guitarist and backing vocalist Grant managed a local pub. His love for metal brought together fellow metalheads with an open-door policy to ham at Big Red Studios in Macclesfield. After a couple of weeks, the lineup was completed by Jake (lead vocals and guitar) Charlie (bass and backing vocals), who’s the only resident Maxonian, and Croatian drummer Ante. After a couple of weeks of playing cover songs, they began to create their own style and music and, three years on, they’ve completed a self-funded album with more songs in the bank to refine and do it all over again.
On the sound they’ve crafted, Jake told us: “We would describe our sound as a balance of melody and heaviness. We all write our own parts and blend them together during the writing process, refining individual parts until we’re all happy with the finished product. There are elements of post-rock/metal, prog, nu-metal and metalcore throughout our music. As a result, it can vary song by song. Overall, we would say that we aim to create music with a distinct mood and atmosphere.”
Our first taste of that is the band’s debut album 108, which was released in July. The album kicks off in mellow fashion with the calming intro to Close Your Eyes, which gradually builds with high-pitched vocals “Close your eyes and hold on.” Suddenly, heavy guitar chords kick in under a piercing lick leading a heavy but atmospheric conclusion.
That feeds into the excellent Monarchless, which opens up with a high-pitched guitar lick over driving drums, giving way to vicious vocals and cheeky cowbell hits in a powerful opening verse. The pace slows with delicious vocals over stabbing guitars leading into a more intense chorus “Eyes wide open, We are breaking in, Eyes wide shut, Nothing to show for it now.” That eventually gives way to more intense screamed vocals, which end with a fast-paced riff and cymbal hits teeing up a return of the high-pitched lick before a lively outro.
The album excels in portraying different styles and sounds from track to track, and even with the same song, as evidenced by Lockout being up next. It opens up with a lively riff then big clean vocals over chugging guitars, the pace drops ahead of cool vocals ending with big screams over a cool stabbing riff before a catchy chorus. The epic Shores, coming in at over 6:30, is the one track the band collectively told us they’d most looked forward to people listening to. It starts out slowly before building up to a vicious section of screamed vocals over chunky guitars. That gives way to delicious call-and-response clean vocals, before raw vocals bring this superb track that, in true SIGILS style, is packed with contrasts, to a conclusion.
On the track, Jake told us: “It’s a song that we usually start rehearsals with, and it’s one that we end up humming the chorus for on the way out of the door. It’s groovy and melodic, with some intimate verses, a catchy chorus, a heavy breakdown and a climactic end. It’s the epitome of the journey idea that I mentioned previously, and we’re really excited as we think it will resonate with people.”
The album continues to deliver with the moody Sleep Merchants and the massively intense Wreckage, which is arguably its heaviest track. There’s a more melodic and melancholic feel to Horizons and Experiences, before concluding in style with the dark and shadowy yet also calming and melodic, near-seven-minute-long Apollyon.
On the album, Jake said: “It feels like an incredible achievement for each of us. We’re incredibly happy with the way it turned out, and it’s quite surreal to be able to hold 2+ years of work in the palm of your hand. We’ve started from complete anonymity. Our project post-album was to start getting ourselves out there. That being said, there have been some amazing individuals who have given us the time of day by writing reviews, giving us airtime, helping us out with gigging and just generally offering advice on how best to navigate things. We’ve had a lot of great feedback from people both in-person at our shows and on our socials, which has been heartwarming to say the least.
“If you haven’t listened yet, we would say: Expect an album with a lot of variety. We wanted to try and keep things interesting and to take the listener on a journey. We wanted to incorporate some heavy and fast moments whilst also juxtaposing them with quieter, more intimate and vulnerable moments. To this end, our instrumental sections use different effects and techniques throughout the album. For vocals, there are a lot of different techniques used to fit the mood of each song. Dynamics are very important to us, and we’ve tried to construct songs that are interesting and engaging. Each song has its own discernible theme, and we think there’s something for everyone on the album.”
As the band’s sound suggests, SIGILS’ members bring together a real mix of influences. For example, Jake draws inspiration from Serj Tankian and former Killswitch Engage vocalist Howard Jones, Jake’s style is inspired by Deftones’ Stephen Carpenter (especially their earlier albums) and Grant takes influence from Cult Of Luna, as well as post-rock and post-metal bands like Explosions in the Sky, Red Sparowes and Russian Circles. Charlie’s bass techniques draws on everything from Tool, Rodrigo y Gabriella and Dire Straits to flamenco-style playing, which is definitely a new one for us and is portrayed on Sleep Merchants. While Ante decided to play drums after receiving a Linkin Park DVD as a teenager, then drawing influence from his love of Metallica, Iron Maiden, In Flames and cinema soundtracks.
And on what inspires them to write music, Jake explained: “None of us are career musicians. Between us, we’ve been involved in different projects over the years. However, Sigils was a chance for us all to have a creative outlet with which to express ourselves. What influences us is a desire to create music that we simply couldn’t create on our own. Everyone has equal input in the writing process, and this is very important for us.
“As for key themes and topics, those can be quite fluid. Sometimes, we write music in response to something that has emotionally affected one (or a number) of us. Other times, we might choose a specific topic and run with it (like a creative writing piece). Sometimes, we might simply start jamming, construct a song, and figure out what the pieces mean to us further down the line. I think the fluidity of the writing process is what makes things exciting!”
SIGILS will be busy refining songs they’ve written that didn’t quite make their first album, which they’ll look to map out as singles. They’re also going to be busy gigging across the UK, kicking off by playing The Peer Hat in Manchester on 17 October then The Fighting Cocks in Kingston upon Thames on 22 October, The Salty Dog in Northwich on 24 October, The Thunderbolt in Bristol on 20 November and MASH in Macclesfield on 22 November. Tickets for all of those gigs are on the SIGILS website.
You can follow SIGILS on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud and YouTube.
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