Twice as melancholy, twice as suicidal, twice as fun. That is our section Double As Heavy. A killer new album that simply demands to be viewed from more than one side. In addition, the editors would fight each other out to determine who would ultimately get the golden ticket. This time we discuss Shining by Shining. Yves (favorite genre: black) and Joris (favorite genre: black,…) are the lucky ones this time.
In the 80s and 90s, the conservative crowd started complaining about singers like Marilyn Manson. How surprised they would be if they knew what lay ahead, with an act like Shining that has actually been living on the cutting edge for over twenty years. Enthusiasts know that that ‘pun intended’ remains with Kvarforth and co. Anyone who thought that there would be some kind of Jonestown scenario with album ten is wrong, because the band simply continues with a self-titled album. A fresh start? A new concept? A new sound? We are curious!
Have you followed the entire Shining repertoire? In your opinion, has Kvarforth been leading for this spectrum of the scene?
Yves: I started somewhere around the time of The Eerie Cold, but looking back I became an immense fan of the debut album Within Deep Dark Chambers. It was cold and immeasurably dark, but I gradually became attracted to Halmstad’s style. Kvarforth was a real trendsetter in this way in the early 2000s. It was suicidal black metal, clearly, but with its own unique stamp. Very cool, yet well-balanced records with profound acoustic melodies and well-aimed ‘OEs’ on which the place exploded again. I got tired of it all after record five to be honest, but record nine in particular, Everyone, Everything, Everywhere, Ends, convinced me again. Everything was correct again, even the title. Suddenly Shining was a lot more professional, also on stage, and the artwork sounded more mature. Not just another suicidal black ‘n’ roll, but with real depth. So for me, Kvarforth made a comeback around 2015 and is leading again.
Joris: Just like Yves, I got my hands on The Eerie Cold sometime in 2005, so I started listening back, but it was the more recent records that grabbed me by the throat and made the blood flow through my veins and onto the floor. proverbially. Think of V: Halmstad, but especially VI: Klagopsalmer and even more so, record number X: Varg Utan Flock, I think it’s magical. On the latter album, the opening track Svart Opstobbar Eld is of a very high level. Shining’s music has its own ingredients and indeed those ‘oo’s’ are still part of it. What always strikes me is the excellence of the vocals and the very strong bass part. This is also the case on the new album.
Is he still leading? Why should you listen to this album?
Yves: This is certainly not Shining‘s easiest album and that in itself deserves praise. It seems as if the band, because we can no longer speak of a project, has really opened up all the stops from the past, with Avsändare Okänd¬ which, to my taste, leans a bit towards the older, but also with black ‘n’ roll drags with depth such as Snart Är Dom Alla Borta. Giant Allt För Döden also fits into that list, but is perhaps the earworm in the list. Perhaps because it is presented in a more accessible way, or simply because of those juicy ‘Oo, sa, sa, sa’ vocals towards the end that are presented on somewhat Mayhem-esque drag riffs. So you really hear an influence from the other members: guitar-wise (Mayhem), but certainly also in terms of the drums. I used the word ‘earworm’, but as mentioned, this is really the Shining album that I had to give the most listens. You recognize it, but there is also a sick layering at times.
Joris: Definitely! Just like the previous albums, Mr. Kvarforth once again allows us to look into his dark, troubled soul. He still makes the music himself, writes it out on acoustic guitar and only throws in the heavy instruments afterwards. He also does that on this record and that alone makes him a unique artist when you add your emotions, no matter how dark, to the limelight.
Has this become Shining‘s best album? Why or not? Or can you only say that about the wine after it has matured?
Yves: Definitely let this wine mature, I would say. I’m not quite sure yet whether this will be Kvarforth’s best album. At first glance it doesn’t match V or IX, but maybe I’m too resigned to the stickiness of those records and this beast still has to really penetrate. You will undoubtedly see in my annual list how high it will end up.
Joris: I agree with Yves. It has again become a very strong album, an album that gets better and better when you listen to it again. Only then do you feel the purpose of certain riffs and themes. I personally believe that this XI: Shining will end up high in my personal annual list, just like many others probably
Yves: For me personally it is a mixture of the two. I think opener Avsändara Okänd is a great Shining song that will immediately make it clear that the band is still building on the road they built over ten albums. A style that is very typical, but in terms of content I find Allt För Döden a lot more interesting. Oily and rolling, with riffs that last so long that the band seems to say: ‘fuck you, we’ll keep playing it’. Halfway through you sink into that typical Shining melancholy with a wonderful bass layer, a guitar solo and then persistent pounding to end up in a longer silence. As if depression and melancholy are made known in the musical structure itself. The ending also fits within that framework with a hanging darkness of distortion. almost Burzum-like.
Joris: Wow, the clips. That is of course a very different story. The clip for Avsändara Okänd, a quite long song, implements Mr. Taccardi’s artwork very well, even in a very ingenious way. The clip for Allt För Döden is sick, crazy and was made by Claudio Marino on a limited budget on a location somewhere in Stockholm. Well, it’s shocking, but we’re used to that, and at the same time, I think it exposes the precariousness in the person in a musical and visual way. We all know that Mr. Kvarforth struggles with a lot of demons. It remains impressive how (despite this) he continues to be able to write masterful music.
What do you think of the new line-up around Kvarforth?
Yves: As mentioned, it really does make a contribution. More power at times, without really going too far and especially more dissonance and chaos in the riffs and structures. It doesn’t make it any easier, but who cares about that. Perhaps challenging to select choices for the live shows based on this instrumental flow. Although it can actually be easily solved with the opener, Allt För Döden and perhaps Fidelis Ad Mortem, which at times even has some Gregorian-tinged vocal lines and goes nice and deep guitar-wise.
Joris: Of course you have Mr. Huss who has been a guitarist in the band for a long time. In addition, there has been a lot of turnover for various reasons. The most fascinating thing about this album, lineup-wise, is Mr. Barker’s drumming. This gentleman, who has been struggling with his health lately, is a monument in the extreme metal world. We know him from Cradle Of Filth and many other bands. Within Shining he has proven to be able to push his boundaries and comes up with very dirty, horny drum dynamics. You can call it special. There are only a limited number of (hammer) blast parts included in the songs. Songs that don’t ask for it and certainly don’t shout it, let me be clear.
What’s the best song on the album?
Yves: There isn’t a single bad song on this album, although the Satie cover is superfluous as far as I’m concerned. That was also the case with Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata on record V, but I understand the atmosphere creation as a filler for the whole. If you let me choose, I’ll go for the strangest one. In my opinion, Den Permanenta Sömnen Kallar is the main bird of the album, but it also dares to play with feet. The song starts with a chaos of guitar lines that lasts for minutes and then erupts into a wonderful, repetitive black metal wave that builds in depth. It’s been a long time since suicidal black went to the bone, but halfway through there is suddenly an apparent bright spot. Bass waves and atmosphere that remind me of A Forest of Stars with clean vocals on top. A little later the whole thing is reloaded with a nice guitar solo over it to return to the rest point that is also maintained until the end. No more flare-ups, just fade away; a bit like the lyrics themselves. Be sure to translate this track for yourself; suicide as a theme (of course), but described in a very poetic way.
Joris: Right! There isn’t a single bad song on the record. You can cry and whine about the Erik Satie piano cover, but it fits in with the whole. Just give me the wonderfully dirty, dragging, nauseating Allt För Döden. The vocals are majestic… sssa sssa sssa…
Yves: I like themes that are maintained. There are plenty of bands that constantly want to innovate. Kvarforth does that too, but still retains the spiritual essence of Shining. Twenty years ago I thought he was in deep trouble, but now it seems to me that the man reflected on that illness and resigned himself to it. The instrumental structure and layering begins to more and more reflect the face of that disease. More chaos, more dissonance, less stickiness.
Joris: No, not at all. You can indeed call it the same thing each time, but I think that this eleventh album once again shows a Shining that we know, but which is at the same time refreshing in other facets. Yves hits the nail on the head. The man is still deep but seems to integrate more of a reflective aspect into his music. He also partly explains this in the interview I did with him to promote this record, which was very impressive.
Final conclusion:
Yves: Good suicidal black metal must go deep. I obviously mean the music, although Kvarforth may interpret this differently. Shining presents an album that is easy to listen to at times (especially in the beginning), but which also has many difficult to digest moments. It’s a different kind of depth than say fifteen or twenty years ago, it’s less accessible than say eight years ago, but it deserves at least ten listens to feel this pain. And it has to be said, this artwork is just sick and covers everything.
Joris: Magisterial album from a masterly, albeit troubled, artist!
Score Yves: 88
Score Joris: 90
Score:
89/100
Label:
Napalm Records, 2023
Tracklisting:
- Avsändare Okänd
- Snart Ar Dom Alla Borta
- Allt För Döden
- Fidelis Ad Mortem
- Åttahundratjugo (Erik Satie cover)
- Den Permanenta Sömnen Kallar
Line-up:
- Niklas Kvarforth – Vocals, piano
- Tuomas Tahvanainen – Synthesizer
- Peter Emanuel Huss – Guitar
- Alex Friberg – Basguitar
- Nicholas Barker – Drums
- Charles Edward Hedger – Guitar
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