Shining
VI - Klagopsalmer

Good things have been written about this latest release by Shining: in my humble opinion, we are faced with an album that, depending on the points of view, can justifiably be seen as a masterpiece and at the same time as a half disappointment.

Objectively speaking, "Klagopsalmer" is an excellent release, a release that knows how to captivate from the unusual cover with vaguely post-industrial gray tones: following the vein of the latest works, the Swedish band reveals the intention to break away from a more properly "depressive" acceptance within the black metal genre, an acceptance that they have previously contributed to defining. This is in favor of broadening the stylistic horizons allowed in the melting-pot that the artistic vision of the histrionic leader Kvarforth has been gradually willing to annex into his malicious garden.

The album moves with awareness and skill in the territories of well-crafted black metal, well played and arranged, that does not shy away from reviving a healthy thrash attitude, flirting with the typical technicalities of more deliberate death-metal and indulging in moments that are more "easy" and black'n'roll. A black metal that at the same time chooses to embrace the challenge of venturing into certain forms of experimentation, ultimately touching the treacherous shores of post-rock and chamber music (consider the melancholic piano and string coda of the enormous closing track "Total Utfryssning", which in its sixteen-minute length shows all the willingness for contamination the band has fostered).

On a vocal level, we are also faced with an increasingly versatile and mature Kvarforth, confidently surveying his peculiar screaming (which in more than one instance recalls the morbid gasp of Mayhem’s Attila Csihar), furious screams and extraordinarily clean vocals which, indeed, remind one of the Akerfeldt of fellow Swedes Opeth. And precisely with the Opeth, an indispensable point of reference for third millennium metal, we find important analogies, particularly in the increasingly complex structures of the compositions and the increasingly harmonious integration between electric and acoustic sections, even though speaking of true progressive temptations is still prohibitive. Thrash assaults, black-metal outbursts, and dark mid-tempos take turns while keeping the listener's attention high, who can also delight in atmospheric arrangements that more and more assertively emerge in Shining's sound.

Having said this, an album like "Klagopsalmer" may puzzle long-time fans, those who have loved the more rancid, unhealthy, and rotten moods of the band, moods that, alas, no longer seem to find a place in music that prefers to astonish with well-entwined melodic solutions in a frontal assault that actually closely resembles the last inadvisable releases of Darkthrone, Satyricon, and Carpathian Forest, examples not to follow. Of course, we are not speaking of an album that is exactly the quintessence of joy, because we are always talking about black metal, but certainly, the scenario is more pleasing, a scenario where the band seems to aim to conquer larger paying audiences, so much so that it is inevitable to feel a bit of regret, as something of the original attitude has been lost along the way. Especially if we consider the efforts of other colleagues attributable to the same movement, who have been able over time to enrich their sound intelligently and purposefully without tarnishing the aura of overwhelming desolation that characterizes their proposal from the very beginning (consider the bands that operate under the Southern Lord).

In short, faced with sloppy, ultra-melodic solos, finely elaborated arrangements far removed from the nihilistic and minimal moods inherent to the genre, and post-rock paths which, in their languid poetry, may appear out of place, it is legitimate to have doubts, especially when the band persists in flaunting an image and message that are now too excessive (and therefore laughable) if compared to the real expressive scope of the music presented.

Or we can change approach and applaud Kvarforth's artistic genius that shows, album after album, the willingness and ability to constantly evolve, even if in the end he seems to struggle to reach expressive and artistic peaks capable of elevating his status outside the genre’s ranks: in any case, respect is due to a musician who, silly acts aside, stands behind a discography that has no real weak points but rather delivers several noteworthy works (one above all, the incredible chapter IV "The Eerie Cold").

The album, ultimately, represents what good extreme metal is still capable of producing today; a metal, however, penalized by an anachronistic vision (we might say nineties’), a product of a pre-Neurosis era that did not yet have the courage to take the leap forward and truly disrupt the schemes, but simply continued its path, enriching its technical repertoire and admitting timid contaminations, but never really astonishing.

Suicide based on coca-cola and aspirin...