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Band: Shining
Album title: IX/Everyone, Everything, Everywhere, Ends
Release date: 20 April 2015
Label: Season Of Mist
Tracklist:
01. Den Påtvingade Tvåsamheten
02. Vilja & Dröm
03. Framtidsutsikter
04. Människotankens Vägglösa Rum
05. Inga Broar Kvar Att Bränna
06. Besök Från I(ho)nom
When it comes to the Swedish pioneers of depressive undertones in black metal, Shining, a lot of people just think of all the rumors around them, especially about frontman and founder Niklas Kvarforth, and they forget the whole band and the fact they are indeed skillful musicians. Their new album IX/Everyone, Everything, Everywhere, Ends is not an easy task to talk about, as so many things have changed until these days. The first thing that I noticed when they started streaming new songs from the album, or better said what really caught me both of guard is the feel that everything is much faster than on their previous record, especially the second track "Vilja & Dröm", which is my favorite of them all, the guitars are purely amazing and reminds me a lot of the latest Mayhem record for some reason. I'm not quite sure why, but it's the riffs that seem so much darker than ever before and maybe more powerful, chugging guitars riffs over blast beats grinding drums, a bit different from Shining that I knew before but I like the approach...
Niklas voice is on top as always delivering something like never before. Even though the band never really stated they are a black metal band I can't escape but saying their new songs have a lot of those key elements that I personally love in black metal from the early 90s, of course, as well those classic sinister Shining riffs are still there, along with the lovely melodies of Huss and Euge that really creates on this record a splendid performance in one unit. Kinda like Maiden in a way guitar harmonies and like such are truly beautiful. I admit, I'm a bit blown away by Niklas clean vocals, really good and somehow strange in the same way but it really shows more than one side of the band. I think a lot of people will compare this to be a twin album to Shining's beloved album V/Halmstad (Niklas Angående Niklas). I can hear a lot of songs that could fit on before mentioned Halmstad album, especially because of the guitar solos that accompany the melodic riffs that are just so good, it's hard not to praise this record. I get a lot more of an actual band feel than ever before. This time around the album was written by Euge and Niklas, then the rest contributed in the studio.
I will point out that it's wrong to say that Shining is solely a black metal band because there are so much more influences that surrounds the band and I can easily say they are extreme metal without diving to deep into the sub genres and such, since I hate to label the bands. But I guess it's quite impossible these days to avoid this, but I'll do my best... Let's put it like this as Dee Snider of Twisted Sister once stated that music and lyrics allows a person to find what they are looking for, thus if you are looking for black metal you will find it in this record for sure, but it also allows the listener to really find whatever he/she really enjoys in the metal world.
Let's get back to the album, one another song that really stood out of this album is "Människotankens Vägglösa Rum" which again reminded me of the last Mayhem record or at least parts of it do, the fast blast beats mostly, but as always they proove they are their own genre by adding clean breaks into their own sound. One of the things that I always loved with Shining is their acoustic guitar melodies that seem to haunt on every album here and there. IX/Everyone, Everything, Everywhere, Ends is rather short album with only 6 tracks on it, but it's 6 tracks of pure golden music... I can easily say that this release is one of my favorites of 2015 so far! Let's see what next door unlocks!
Review written by: Oliver
Rating: 9/10
Disclaimer: This is a guest review and it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the Terra Relicta staff.
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