### Shining: V - Halmstad

#### 31/08/12 || BamaHammer

I’ve stated before that I learned all the Swedish that I know from the back of my Torture Division t-shirt. That blissful ignorance when it comes to the lyrical content on this masterpiece along with the stunning songwriting expertise only enhances the fact that this is one of the absolute finest fucken black metal opuses (opi?) ever recorded by man. And I don’t even know if it really counts as black metal. Whatever it is or is supposed to be, it’s a dark, poetic masterwork from one of the most underrated bands in today’s metal scene. This is terrifyingly dark stuff. By the time you hear the classic Beethoven piano sonata in “Åttiosextusenfyrahundra”, you’ll just be glad you hear something remotely familiar.

To say that this album is dark, depressive, moody, and pessimistic in its atmosphere would be the understatement of the century. Shining is essentially a severely blackened incarnation of Katatonia with balls to begin with, but couple that characteristic with a loaded handgun in the mouth, and you’ve basically got this band’s outlook on life. In other words, life ain’t too grand.

The first thing that you’ll notice about Shining is the vocal delivery of Mr. Niklas Kvarforth. It’s like nothing else out there. He definitely possesses a typical croaky black metal sound, but he can also manipulate his style in such a way that it becomes almost a haunting, tortured wail on occasion. He also dabbles in clean parts when it’s needed as well.

Aside from the obvious utilization of a shockingly good atmosphere and torturous vocals, Shining also pours it on further with some fantastically emotional guitar work. Fredric Gråby and Peter Huss deliver the goods on all six (which is of course a Shining M.O.) tracks. The guitar sound itself has an excellent crush, not crunch, which smooths the riffing and ties everything tightly together during the course of a song. Acoustic guitars even make an appearance quite often, which really nails the need for more intricate parts of Shining’s songwriting. However, when the guitar leads take over, that’s when this album’s true beauty shines in all its darkness. Notes don’t simply sound, they cry. They wail. They moan. They scream. They suck you in.

Do yourself a favor and get lost in this album. This is how modern black metal is done. It’s an adventure through a mind full of final thoughts just before deciding to pull that trigger to make all those painful thoughts and memories disappear forever. Strangely enough, I find that there’s some solace to be found in an album like this, and that there are some extremely dark sides to every shining light. The emotions I feel and the things I learn while listening through this album are almost utterly surreal. Quite frankly, this is one of the best album’s I’ve ever heard. And I don’t even speak Swedish.

- Information
- Released: 2007
- Label: Osmose
- Website: www.shiningasylum.com/
- Band
- Niklas Kvarforth: vocals
- Fredric Gråby: guitars
- Peter Huss: guitars
- Johan Hallander: bass
- Ludwig Witt: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Ytterligare Ett Steg Närmare Total Jävla Utfrysning
- 02. Längtar Bort Från Mitt Hjärta
- 03. Låt Oss Ta Allt Från Varandra
- 04. Besvikelsens Dystra Monotoni
- 05. Åttiosextusenfyrahundra
- 06. Neka Morgondagen