ALBUM REVIEW: Shining – X: Varg Utan Flock

First review of the new year is an exciting release from Swedish Black Metallers Shining!

01. Svart Ostoppbar Eld opens with a very Black and Roll style which Shining pull off perfectly! Very aggressive much like something from the bands 4th album! Absolutely amazing vocal work on this track adds to the misanthropic atmosphere.
02. Gyllene Portarnas Bro is much more melodic and depressive in tone, which let’s face it, is what makes us love Shining and how they stand out among the Black Metal scene.
03. Jag Är Din Fiende brings back a slightly heavier sound, I have the 10″ vinyl single of this song and am very familiar with it, a great Shining track both atmospheric, unsettling and as always dark. Fine work up to now, this being the halfway point.
04. Han Som Lurar Inom feels like something from one of the first 2 albums, very depressive, bleak and hopeless sounding. After the intro the song just hits you in the face, perfectly so. This feels like somewhere between early Shining and something from Leviathan in the sound too. This track is certainly my favourite to this point.
05. Tolvtusenfyrtioett is an instrumental piece by Chopin, played on piano and breaks up the album perfectly. The music itself is like something you see in a horror movie when all the hope for everyone just snuffs out and it works beautifully. This track has to be my favourite “interlude” for want of a better word that Shining have used. Stunning, haunting and sheerly bleak is all I can say for this.
06. Mot Aokigahara is the closing track of the album, it continues the melancholy tone of the previous track and is just stunning, in such a cold and hopeless way. Niklas’ clean vocals have just vastly improved over time, he certainly has been refined as an artist and songwriter. The aggression of course comes in before the album is out, and it is most welcome.

All musicians played amazingly, Niklas wrote yet another wonderful album and us fans have got another piece of absolutely glorious Shining music to add to our collections.

Final Rating: 8.5/10