Review by JD on July 31, 2014.

Black metal I love is the older school side of things from my teens in the early 80’s… when thrash, speed and some punk all were mashed together with growled vocals and low production values to make some of the most iconic metal around. Venom, early Bathory and Hellhammer are some of the BM I still listen to… the newer stuff is good, but it loses a little in the new translation.

Swedish black metallers Shining are an example of longevity. Started in 1996, they have survived line-up changes, hiatuses, some minor style changes and just about everything else a band can endure. Now with a new album, harking back to their earlier days, the band is now poised for whatever comes.

Sung mostly in Swedish, the heaviness and brutality still explodes out and makes everyone know what they are about. Lyrically, they are about being Pro-Suicide, Satan, personal tragedies and other even more disturbing darker thoughts. At one point, the main singer/creator Niklas Kvarforth coined the phrase for his brand of metal as ‘Suicidal Black Metal’ but dropped it when other acts began to use it. Intense, is it not?

Shining are good, solid black metal with a curious twist, one that most metalhead could get into. It is a very good album, but it cannot be hid that it is horribly lacking in spots. It won’t make a ‘must have’ for the BM scene, but it is still worth listening to a few times. Solid does not mean its stellar – just average with a little extra to make it better than most.

Rating: 7 out of 10