Shining
Live Blackjazz
Indie
Without question, Shining
(NOR) were one of 2010’s top emerging bands. Although they began in 1999 (as a
jazz quartet), and later embraced metal fully with 2005’s ‘In The Kingdom of Kitsch You Will Be A Monster’, 2010 was the year
that, for me, they truly impacted with the imperious ‘Blackjazz’. Melding black metal, jazz and more in a more intense
fashion than ever before, Shining landed themselves in many people’s top albums
of 2010 list way before the year had even ended. It was strange, malevolent,
gonzoid and somehow cohesive.
‘Live Blackjazz’ isn’t a performance of that album in full, although
the bulk of material from the album is present here. It compiles a full Shining
performance comprising of material from that album plus older albums including
‘Kitsch’, and manages to do the rare
job of doing what most live albums simply cannot, which is capture the raw,
volatile energy of a band at the peak of their game. None of the craziness that
manifested the studio album of the same name is lost, with frontman/saxophonist
Jørgen Munkeby still screaming the ‘one
three seven five’ out of ‘Fisheye’ and sounding nothing short of on the
edge on the likes of ‘Madness and the Damage Done’ and ‘Exit Sun’. The closing
cover of King Crimson’s ‘21st Century Schizoid Man’ is just as
apocalyptic as it was on ‘Blackjazz’, enhanced by its domineering live presence
If you haven’t yet checked
out Shining then you really owe it to yourself to immerse yourself right away
into one of the most original bands of our time. Rarely does metal lend itself
to diversity as much as it does with Shining, and without question this is an opportunity to grab with both hands and ears.
Peter Clegg
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