Review — SHINING — “Shining”
RATE: 9/10
Napalm Records
Release Date: September 15th, 2023
*Box Set / Vinyl / CD / Cassette / Digital*
Tracklist:
1. Avsändare Okänd
2. Snart Är Dom Alla Borta
3. Allt För Döden
4. Fidelis Ad Mortem (Feat. Andy La Rocque)
5. Åttahundratjugo (Erik Satie Cover)
6. Den Permanenta Sömnen Kallar
Talking about Shining is like talking about the Bible, both are represented by a protagonist who lies between an extrovert and introvert personality, with some mental problems that push himself further and further through hallucinations, paranoia and schizophrenia; and even considering this non-healthy situations, they have a lot of followers -included myself-, the aforementioned in the most respectful and kind way towards Niklas of course.
Imagine the duty of review the new album of one of your favorite bands, which have been a major inspiration for your musical project/journey and that in some strange and sensual way it has been your lover for at least 18 years, believe me, it is a hard deal.
Since the beginning, Shining aka Niklas Kvarforth has been flirting with so many genres, ideas, atmospheres, with the main and solid idea of provoking, push out your boundaries and drive you into your more uncomfortable feelings, and yes, that is the way it has been since the EP “Submit To Selfdestruction” (1998).
The problem with Shining, is that it is like a drug, you try it once and you are into the thing, but then you need more and not only more, but a harder stuff, and this happens every time when Shining releases a new album -or EP, split, etc.-.
Throughout Shining’s musical journey we have experienced so many changes, and not only regarding the line-up, but also the mental health of Niklas, along the environmental chaos that surrounds his mastermind. But there is something more special within this evolution, and it is the vocal approach of Niklas, each new album, each new EP he goes far beyond his old boundaries and rape his vocal technic and develop the most sensual and bloody chants.
For this new album, “Shining” the composition was quite different, for this one, Niklas worked with the other musicians throughout the composition, the recording, and even choosing the name, of course as Niklas said in our last interview, he worked one by one, not with all together because he doesn’t like people.
“Shining” could not be considered the best album of Shining, but it is closer to the tetralogy that consist of “IV: The Eerie Cold” (2005), “V: Halmstad (Niklas Angående Niklas)” (2007), “VI: Klagopsalmer” (2009) and “VII: Född Förlorare” (2011). The atmosphere, composition, even the melody within the voice is a deja vú to what that tetralogy developed some years ago.
The artwork and all the design were not lead this time by Mr. Kvarforth, but the one and only Maxime Taccardi, the French blood-artist that since a couple of years has been using his blood to make portraits and outstanding covers, and now, two bloody maniacs melted, and the result is far beyond insane, Taccardi was able to keep the essence and portray the insanity of Shining using, one of the most priceless fluids for Niklas, the blood, human blood.
So, here we are counting scars, six scars as always, and each one called, Shining.
“Avsändare Okänd” it’s the perfect preamble to what is Shining about, and a solid way to develop the nowadays mature sound that these Swedish have been working on throughout the last year at least; however, during the song you could find some traces of “VII: Född Förlorare”, with some riffs and some changes in the tempo. Of course, it is not identical, it is just the essence that emerged within. The track itself develops a classical riff structure, following the blast beats sponsored by Mr. Barker, and then, by the last minutes of the song, some solo and rhythm appears and sounds-like “X: Varg Utan Flock” (2018) era.
As said before, sometimes a band reach the climax in the musical career, not meaning that the following musical voids are not good, but it is impossible to forget a masterpiece, and that happened with “V: Halmstad (Niklas Angående Niklas)”, but fortunately, with “Snart Är Dom Alla Borta” Niklas drove us back into that 2007 vibes because it is impossible not to feel the presence of that mighty album, the atmosphere created note by note, through that piano and with a very very low tempo. The main difference is the voice of Niklas, which in comparison with “Halmstad”, his voice in this track lies in the fog and in the deep darkness and sadness, emerging as a monolithic hymn and throughout a very melancholic and purely sentimental solo that keeps you pushing toward your old and -apparently- forgotten wounds, and that by the end of this torture, your pure sadness and chaos explode.
“Allt För Döden”, was one of the first singles for this album, and it starts as the most strong track, at least for the first minute the blast beats emerge and consumes everything, then as only Shining knows how to do it, the rhythm decays to open the door to a low and provocative vocal approach by Niklas, then everything starts over, in some moments the track sounds like “Redefining Darkness” (2012) and “8 ½ Feberdrömmar I Vaket Tillstånd” (2013) albums, but once again, with some concrete changes, that I may say were developed by Charles Hedger (aka Ghul) with a complicity with the well-known guitar master Peter Huss. The vibe and the atmosphere go in crescendo, rushing from the calmest ballad to the chaos purely developed by Niklas.
“Fidelis Ad Mortem”, it was hard, really hard to fell in love with this track, it is the most different within the album and I think this derives from the touch of Andy La Rocque, I can’t deny he is a mastermind within the mastering process, but his touch is quite evident and it was hard to swallow the orchestral/chorus type song, but at the end, the structure was perfectly melted with the mesmerizing solo and the semantic of the album itself.
“Åttahundratjugo (Erik Satie Cover)”, for the newbies regarding Shining and their albums a cover in the middle of the album is strange, is something that apparently does not fit properly within the album, but, remember that Mr. Kvarforth goes far beyond the simplicity of Black Metal and tries to look forward any kind of inspiration, for this album they chose Erik Satie (aka Eric Alfred Lesie Satie), a French composer and pianist. As described at the Oxford Dictionary of Music, Satie directed a new generation far away from the impressionism of Wagner looking forward a more epigrammatic style. So, when we try to figure out what Mr. Kvarforth has in his mind, it is not so uncommon to have Satie within the darkness of Shining. For the record, “Åttahundratjugo” is based on Satie’s performance 820.
“Den Permanenta Sömnen Kallar,” with a riff and monotonous tremolo the song starts, moving backward and forward the previous tracks, with a unique style, but keeping the line. The tempos are a little bit slower, but the drums sound clearer, while the voice of Niklas sounds brighter and you can even feel the desolation rising, until the growls take the place and chaotic solo infest the track.
So as everything in life ends, and we will need to wait some years for another Shining album, as an overview, the album is good, it still has that old vibe and now with the revolutionized vocal aptitudes of Niklas everything sounds more mature, melodic, and even more dark.
For those that are newbies in the Shining world, remember that as a deep-rooted custom, each Shining album consists of six tracks, with -usually- roman numbers preceding the titles and also since “III: Angst — Självdestruktivitetens Emissarie” (2002) the fifth song is an instrumental song, and Shining always include a cover or a rearrangement on their albums.
Something I miss in this album, are those samplers between the tracks or within them, that in a personal point of view, enlights and gives more body, texture, and perspective to the idea behind the album and helps the listener to have a proper approach to the album’s emotions.
Finally, grab a copy of this album, play it loud, and feel, feel the music, and the emotions emerging within the notes and between the lines.
And as Niklas said… “Shining is the band your parents always warned you about.”
Thanks to Lisa and the Napalm Records team for the digital promo and for the privilege of having an interview with Niklas, and the joy to then share this sickness with the followers of The Black Shrine.
NsK
Order:
www.napalmrecords.com/english/shining
Photos by Claudio Marino.
