With so many bands going for the numerical album title I cannot think of any that have included a ½? I’m sure there are some out there and somebody will write in but there is a reason behind Swedish band Shining’s numerical anarchy. Having released eight albums and stumping everyone by not calling number 8 number 8, Niklas Kvarforth has decided to do a bit of a stop gap exercise before any new material and go back to the roots of the band and re-record some classic songs and get some of his friends and allies to sing on them. So if you ever wondered what Shining would be like without Kvarforth vocally all over them, this is a somewhat rare experience for you. As he winds so many people up too it may allow others to stomach music that they otherwise won’t have listened to but somehow I doubt that.
You could have probably guessed some of the special guests but not all of them are obvious. In fact as the razor sharp depressive guitar lines of ‘Terres des Anonymes’ hone in you could well be thrown a complete curveball by the high rasping vocals that sound like they are in French. The reason is that they are wielded by Famine of Pest Noire and if you were worried about numbers not retaining the eccentricity of their original muse you can cast all thoughts aside as parts of this are completely barking and littered with deranged cackles and unholy sounds. The songs in their original pre-production form all sound fantastic with the newly added bass and guitars and also thanks to Angst Sqvardron’s Lars Fredrik Fröslie there are also subtle keyboards adding to the gloom and despondency. You would be right in translating ‘Szabadulj meg önmagadtól’ to ‘Free Yourself From Yourself’ from Hungarian and that can only mean one thing vocals by the unmistakable wretched throat of Attila Csihar which when you think about it is a match made in hell and if we could get this album done live…. Nice thick gravid gurgles limber up over the instantly recognisable melody and when the song explodes and the croaks sluice around out the speakers in full necrotic might it’s impossible not to be caught up in the glorious death ritual. The austere keyboard part really takes it to weird B-Movie places you can almost hear a voice in your head saying “welcome, you are entering the void of death” Well I can in my head, which is somewhat worrying.
I am probably placing myself in untrue jeopardy by saying that Pehr Larrson and Alfahanne and their apocalyptic rock are unknown to me. Scene points negated I shall rectify this soon as reading about their 2014 Dark Essence touted release sounds just my bag. The song ‘Ett liv utan mening’, well known from Shining II, I should add, is a slower one which oozes a crepuscular morbidity with Pehr’s somewhat sharp and spiky parts not prolific but adding uncomfortable nuances to the music. The pace ricochets up several levels as ‘Självdestruktivitetens emissarie’ injects an unhealthy dose of angst. Vocals are somewhat clean although forcibly exsanguinated by Gaahl another somewhat victorious coup to secure on the album. Spoken words and slow wrist slitting parts with grim shrieks and hollers have the song retaining its potency with meaty gravitas.
I was very pleased that one of my favourite tracks ‘Black Industrial Misery’ gets the treatment here and who better to perform than Maniac? It’s just like Halloween every day you listen to this song and it really does sound fantastic here and there are even some female choral parts warbling away behind Maniac’s shredding vokills. It’s a brilliant version of a fantastic song, the only problem is stopping myself playing it on repeat till it really sends me mad(der). That just leaves ‘Through Corridors Of Oppression’ and it seems right that this much shorter number goes to Kvarforth himself although I have to say after what came before it, I find it a bit of an understated point of departure but then again one that makes sense. The one real surprise was that we did not get Hoest doing a number but I suppose that would have been too damn obvious and we can’t get everything we want in death now can we?
I can’t see any Shining fan being disappointed by these renditions of favourite numbers and calling out that they are blasphemous but who knows some are a law unto themselves. This did the job for me and will keep me from stabbing myself until album number 9 appears and the live shows in December!
(8/10 Pete Woods)
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