Personally I say you should try Moira first, the more recent the Sound Horizon album the better it tends to be. I like all their commercially-released albums, though, that I’ve heard (Elysion~楽園幻想物語組曲~, Roman, and Moira, as well as the singles and such), but I always found that I needed an adjustment period for each album musically (they can be HUGELY disparate and different). Any of those three should be a good starting point (unless you want to start way back at the beginning with Chronicle before Revo could even afford a vocalist), and Aramary, the Elysion vocalist, left after that album and Revo simply got more vocalists to replace her, and that broadened the sound even more.

Honestly, when it comes to “look what you can do with a guitar that’s not like what everyone ELSE does with a guitar!” I prefer Sound Horizon over Mono on the simple principle that they took “rock opera” to an entirely new level, one that’s far more opera than rock. I honestly think they’re the hardest band I know of to tidily categorize into a single genre: their Wikipedia entry page cracks me up because there’s a list of at least 15 different genres for their music, none of which are wrong. I do this mostly because I’m a Revo fanboy and like doujin music way more than I should, but when I can go from Gothic-ish-visual-kei-ish metal to Russian polkas to a cross-genre opera with occasional electric guitar and bass, well…

@lastarial: when I think of orchestra + rock band I immediately think of Metallica’s S&M live album, which had its moments of brilliance but was recorded during something of a low point in their career. In HttIW’s case though the two contrasting elements work perfectly. I actually come from a alt-rock background (three chords, blues solos and plenty of angst!) but I appreciate a bit of classical too…two disparate tastes that unusually collide here! Sadly I missed them live in the UK this time around but if they are touring back in Japan when I’m over there in May I’d love to catch them then…

Did you see them live, Martin? They were in London just a few nights back, and they did a few of their regular UK provincial haunts in the week before that. They were very good, as ever, although the general consensus is that the new material took some time to get going. The set list was most of the Hymn album + Halcyon and Yearning (about time Halcyon was dropped for something else really).

@Owen S: I’ve heard good things about EitS so will check them out soonish (and will probably curse myself for leaving it so long, as was the case with Mogwai). I love the ‘narrative’ feel of this record – it comes across to me as an occasionally tragic romance story with an epic happy ending.

@Sorrow-kun: thanks ^_^ They really are a band who need more publicity in these parts, but I’m glad to be of help in alerting you to their new ‘un. You have to hear it ASAP if you’re a fan of theirs, honestly.

As far as Hymn to the Immortal Wind is concerned, though, it’s a winner–its instant accessibility is a plus, and I’m not just talking about Ashes in the Snow, either! I’ve always loved that tabula rasa part of post-rock where you ascribe the emotions on the song and not vice-versa, and what I particularly love about the album is how it can seem jubilantly triumphant one day, and heart-rending the next. It’s a mark of all good post-rock, and HttIW succeeds in that regard. Glad to hear you’re as into it as I am.