| CD REVIEW Shining |
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Band : Shining Shining was formed in 1999 by Jaga Jazzist member Jørgen Munkeby (guitar, sax and various instruments) when he moved from his hometown of Tønsberg to Oslo to study in the Norwegian State Academy of Music. In 2001 the band released their first album, Where The Ragged People Go on bp Records and in 2003 after a tour in China, they released Sweet Shanghai Devil on Jazzland Records.. These two albums are strictly acoustic jazz music, with much improvisation and with a hardcore feeling which is due to the way they were recorded. For their next album they used as many instruments as they could, and took advantage of everything they could in studios to get the mixed genre result that is In the Kingdom of Kitsch You Will Be a Monster, which was released through Rune Grammofon in 2005.. On Grindstone, released on Rune Grammofon January 2007, Shining refined the style developed on In the Kingdom of Kitsch. Now, chalk it up to my relative distaste for most avant garde metal, or to my recent tendencies for more peaceful genres, but I have to be in a very specific mood to listen to this disc (ie. extremely dead). Solid black metal, free jazz experiments, industrial crashes and meditative moments flow into one another as if this were the most common thing on the planet. The music is not easy to digest, you never know what will happen next. The following songs “The madness and the damage done “ and “Omen” are also full of cosmic sounds and strange electronic wizardry that make for the record’s special awkwardness: but that’s also what makes it so suspenseful, creating inside me the urge to always listen to it again. If you like the wild mixture of free jazz, prog and metal, and the crazy videogame-like breaks you'll be very pleased with ”Blackjazz deathtrance” and “Healter Skelter”. Shining's collaboration with Enslaved is a clear influence on Blackjazz. The album's first single, ”Fisheye”, is a newer version of the seventh movement of Nine Nights in Nothingness – Glimpses of Downfall, often referred to as The Armageddon Concerto, which consists of nine movements, five of which were composed by Jørgen Munkeby and four by Ivar Bjørnson of Enslaved. and the vinyl edition of Blackjazzincludes a studio version of the concerto's first movement as a bonus track. Blackjazz ends with a cover version of “21st Century Schizoid Man”, featuring guest vocals by Enslaved's Grutle Kjellson. Both bands Shining and Enslaved will be joining forces again on the legendary Roadburn Festival 2010 with a rare performance of the Armageddon Concerto –for the first time ever outside of Scandinavia. Shining have developed their own unique sound. Blackjazz is definitely one of the most exciting albums of the year. Cosmicmasseur. |