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Shining - IX - Everyone, Everything, Everywhere, Ends review




Bandcamp music player
Reviewer:
7.8

107 users:
7.5
Band: Shining
Album: IX - Everyone, Everything, Everywhere, Ends
Release date: April 2015


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
07. Ohne Dich [Rammstein cover] [bonus]
08. Black Industrial Eleven [bonus]

I think we can all agree that Shining isn't a band that needs much of an introduction. Niklas Kvarforth and his colleagues have twisted black metal into sickness for almost twenty years. But now it is a new year, and it brought us a new album named IX - Everyone, Everything, Everywhere, Ends. Before we go in-depth I have to mention that I never was a huge Shining fan, but since I saw them on stage last year for the first time Kvarforth's attitude left me disgusted and most interested at the same time and one has to take this sick mind into account to form the whole picture of the music. Anyway, on a musical album there still are no pictures, but only audio that counts.

IX - Everyone, Everything, Everywhere, Ends features six new songs running for almost forty minutes, and apart from the intro track they lie within the 6 - 8 minute range. As someone would expect, there are song parts that are slow and acoustic with clean singing and then there's the faster, heavier minutes with more of a harsh voice topping. Some melodies are harmonic while others rather give an unpleasant feeling. So it already can be said that this mixture isn't something very new or original. Still there are points which make me recommend this album, and they basically draw from the performance and songwriting of the slower tracks.

While the opener and last track are still pretty solid but nothing extremely special, the gems lie in-between. "Framtidsutsikter" is a perfect example of Kvarforth's clean vocals, which can be considered unmatched within black metal vocalists. The feeling he delivers fits the music in an outstanding way. "Inga Broar Kvar Att Bränna" on the other hand features the well-known sick vocals and it's audible that after everything that band has gone through, it still got its balls. Together with the ending part this song can be considered the best on the album. The track in-between those two has got a really good bluesy guitar solo in it, but apart from that it is a rather nasty and unpleasant piece of music.

The production here is professional of course, but compared to the often intentionally sloppy voice the instruments maybe sound a bit too clinical, but that's just a small bit. A bit off-topic and off-standard-edition-of-the-album, the cover of Rammstein's infamous track "Ohne Dich" shows some dedication to learn a song in foreign language, but apart from some screams it isn't special really. So, whoever is in for another round of Shining should like this album, for it shows that Kvarforth still got it all to play in the highest league... but he also wouldn't care if people think otherwise. While it won't be discussed as an album of the year, IX - Everyone, Everything, Everywhere, Ends still is a very good and enjoyable piece of art.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 9
Songwriting: 8
Originality: 5
Production: 8

Written by Windrider | 05.05.2015




Comments

Comments: 7   Visited by: 231 users
06.05.2015 - 02:39
SoUnDs LiKe PoP

I usually try to separate the music from personal things with bands - but this guy is just a gigantic fuck up of a human being. After I read an interview where he talks about purposefully taking advantage of the vulnerability of youth to try and make them depressed/suicidal to help hook them onto his music, I told myself I'd never buy or listen to a Shining album. Maybe the music is great, but I can't bring myself to support this guy in any way.
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I lift weights and listen to metal
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06.05.2015 - 21:51
Ras

Liked this album but agree entirely with the rating and review. It just doesn't stand out but it is competent and sometimes a little shiny.
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07.05.2015 - 17:09
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Great album, I agree its mix between melodies, styles and sickness is twisted to kindness
Great album
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Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!

Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
apos;'
[image]
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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07.05.2015 - 18:31
Rating: 7
Daggon
Underpaid M.D.
Seems like they tried really hard to sound like they did in their Halmstad album but ended failing again.
I enjoyed this, even if it doesn't have that eerie atmosphere they had some years ago.
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"Les vers savent qu'ils n'ont pas d'ailes, c'est pour cela qu'ils se cachent sous terre"
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08.05.2015 - 04:50
SoUnDs LiKe PoP

Written by Daggon on 07.05.2015 at 18:31

Seems like they tried really hard to sound like they did in their Halmstad album but ended failing again.
I enjoyed this, even if it doesn't have that eerie atmosphere they had some years ago.


Seems like a reoccurring theme with many bands lately - trying desperately to go back to a certain sound they've long since abandoned, and falling short. Maybe less fans should keep demanding that their favorite bands "return to their sound" if it means sub-par albums...
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I lift weights and listen to metal
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11.05.2015 - 08:10
no one
Account deleted
I'v never really liked shinning apart from maybe II and III, and this album didn't do anything to change my mind Though there were a few good moments like in "Black industrial eleven" and i do appreciate his vocals (could do good in a hardcore band i reckon). I don't even feel the sickness or unpleasantness or whatever it is that he is said to be getting across.
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12.05.2015 - 01:27
ManiacBlasphemer
Black Knight
Written by SoUnDs LiKe PoP on 06.05.2015 at 02:39

I usually try to separate the music from personal things with bands - but this guy is just a gigantic fuck up of a human being. After I read an interview where he talks about purposefully taking advantage of the vulnerability of youth to try and make them depressed/suicidal to help hook them onto his music, I told myself I'd never buy or listen to a Shining album. Maybe the music is great, but I can't bring myself to support this guy in any way.


You have to realize that it is the fan that lets himself be influenced and not this guy doing some magic trick or something. I have been listening his music for years and bought some of his records and I do not feel depressed or suicidal one bit. If I like a record so bad, I will get it without thinking that in the process I am helping this guy as well (and lol, record sales today mostly help record companies, not artists). He is fucked up... as you really cannot be sane to portray so many emotions through this kind of music. Or if he isn't, he surely fakes it well. But damn... stuff like IV and V should be in everybody's collection IMO.
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