Shining – Blackjazz

Now here’s an album that caught me completely off-guard. I can’t even remember how I first found out about the Norwegian band Shining, but their 2010 album Blackjazz certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed. It’s already been on several “top 10 Norwegian albums of 2010″ lists and has caught a lot of wind in the metal community. Their old stuff is actually kinda hard to get a hold of, but what I can tell you is that they’ve been focusing on modern jazz. Then, recently, they cooperated with Enslaved, and this is pretty much the result of that cooperation.

Blackjazz is hard to describe. Saying it’s black metal with jazz elements (or the other way around) is dumbing it down too much. It’s like Shining took the two genres, merged them, and the result was something completely different from anything I can really relate to. There’s been metal bands messing with jazz – Atheist, Cynic, Meshuggah – but this takes it to a whole new level. The closest thing to this I know of has to be Fredrik Thordendal’s Special Defects – Sol Niger Within, which is a really big compliment to Blackjazz.

I think there are three defining features about this album that makes it so fascinating. The first is the wide array of instruments and effects being showcased. Every instrument (vocals, guitar, bass, drums, sax, keyboard) gets their moments to show off during the album, but they also complement each other in constantly new and really creative ways as you listen your way through. It sounds a tiny bit like some of Devin Townsend’s stuff, just taken to an extreme level with a more serious face.

It’s hard to describe this album, or even put words as to why I hope you’ll give it a listen. Shining has taken bits of jazz, metal and their own pure creativity and forged something completely original. All the pieces are familiar but make up something unknown and different. The sheer ingenuity showcased in Blackjazz is stunning, and I hope people will listen to it, be confused as hell, and then give it repeated listenings out of sheer curiosity until they “get” it and fall totally in love with it.