Sikth: Британдық прогрессив метал тобының тарихы

British progressive metal band

Sikth (also typeset as SikTh) are a British progressive metal band from Watford, Hertfordshire, formed in 1999.

Sikth formed in late 1999, but consolidated their line up in March 2001. That line up consisted of dual vocalists Mikee Goodman and Justin Hill, guitarists Dan Weller and Graham Pinney, bassist James Leach and drummer/percussionist Dan Foord. Their first official release was an EP titled Let the Transmitting Begin. Released in 2002, it featured three tracks, as well as a limited edition live CD from the BBC Radio 1 recordings of the same songs. The band's first release for Gut Records was an EP titled How May I Help You? Released in 2002, it featured three tracks, two of which were on the band's debut album. A video for the song "(If You Weren't So) Perfect" was also contained. The song "How May I Help You?" contained a story about a person called Rodney. The song was made into an animated video, which was written, directed and produced by Mikee Goodman. It went on to win the best video award in The Big Cheese Magazine, as well as reaching number 1 on MTV UK, and being an A list video on MTV Asia.

Sikth's debut album The Trees Are Dead & Dried Out Wait for Something Wild was released on 18 August 2003 through Gut Records. The album was produced by the band themselves, along with Andrew Scarth. Mixing duties were handled by Colin Richardson. Two singles were released from the album in "Scent of the Obscene" (October) and "Peep Show" (December). The album has sold approximately 30,000 copies in the UK, Japan and Australia. In support of the album, Sikth performed at Download Festival at Donington Park in 2003. The band subsequently travelled to Japan in 2004, firstly supporting Anthrax and Killswitch Engage, then playing at the Fuji Rock Festival in August with Lou Reed, PJ Harvey and Primus. Also in 2004, the band made an appearance at the debut Fuse Leeds festival of cross disciplinary New Music, at the personal invitation of festival curator Django Bates (they played a support slot to Bates' own jazz ensemble on the closing night of the festival).

The band returned in 2006 with their second full length album Death of a Dead Day. It was released in the UK on 26 June 2006 on their new label Bieler Bros. Records. It was earlier released in the US on 6 June. The album entered the UK album charts at number 94. The album was once again produced by the band themselves, with mixing duties handled by Matt Plant. In support of the album, Sikth performed a show at The White Horse in High Wycombe, the venue of their first ever gig, on 6 June 2006 and at the Download Festival 2006 four days later, as well as short UK tour. An EP titled Flogging the Horses was released in October 2006, featuring demo versions from Death of a Dead Day tracks, as well as a remix version of "Where Do We Fall?". The track "Each Other and Ourselves" was also included, which was a bonus track on the Japanese version of the album. The EP was limited to just 1,500 copies.

On 8 May 2007, it was announced that vocalists Mikee Goodman and Justin Hill would be leaving the band at the conclusion of the July 2007 "The Black Summer Starts Here" UK tour set, due to their ongoing projects and producing careers. Mikee Goodman's and Justin Hill's final performance in SikTh was at the Carling Academy, Islington, London on 14 September 2007 (this was a rescheduled show). On 27 May 2008, Sikth announced that the band had decided to split due to numerous factors. The main reasons cited for their break up was the inability to find a replacement for Mikee and Justin, as well as commitment to other projects. On 15 January 2012, an official Sikth Facebook Page was created by the band in order to reissue and sell Sikth merchandise. The band also stated that when they do reform, it will not be "for the wrong reasons" and that "we owe it to our fans to produce something very special when we return."

On 16 December 2013 it was revealed in a surprise announcement that Sikth were to be playing a reunion set at Download Festival 2014, headlining the Red Bull stage. This was the band's first live performance since 2007 and their first appearance at Download Festival since 2006. On 25 March, they were also announced to be headlining October's Euroblast festival in Cologne, Germany. On 13 June 2014, Sikth announced a full autumn UK tour via their Facebook page running through October and November. Sikth have also been announced to play UK Tech Metal Festival as the main headliner on 14 June 2014. They were also main headliner of Silence Festival V in Nepal 17–18 October 2014,sharing same stage where Enigmatik, Vader, Textures and Behemoth had headlined before. On 27 April 2015 Sikth announced via their Facebook page that they are planning to release new music in the form of a crowd funded EP with a tour to follow. Fans who pre ordered the EP were able to visit the pledgemusic page and gain access to exclusive updates, content and merchandise for the duration of the funding campaign. The six track EP, titled Opacities, was released on 4 December 2015. Sikth were also the opening act for Slipknot on their 2016 U. K tour in February alongside Suicidal Tendencies. They were announced to be performing the Arctangent Festival in August 2016, but later pulled out. They appeared in 2017. On 3 June 2016 Justin Hill announced his retirement in order to focus on his production career. Joe Rosser from Pin's second band Aliases was announced as his replacement. The band will be in the UK in September for their "Riddles of Humanity" tour and will feature Loathe as their support act in September 2018. Their final show of the year was at Festivile on 20 October 2018, it was also at this show where frontman Mikee Goodman said that "This will be the last show we'll do for a while" he also stated he is unsure if they will return soon and if new music will be made. Sometime between 2019 and 2021, Joe Rosser departed the band to pursue other musical endeavours, in late 2022 the band announced that Justin Hill would rejoin the band for a set of anniversary shows in November 2022, at the Manchester date of the show the band brought out Joe Rosser for the songs "Sanguine Seas of Bigotry" and "Bland Street Bloom" as a thank you to his tenure in the band when Justin departed.