UMUR "Fiende" ("Enemy") is an EP release by Swedish black metal act Shining. The EP was released through Season of Mist in November 2017 as a teaser release to Shining´s tenth full-length studio album "X: Varg utan flock" ("Wolf with No Pack"), which was released in January 2018.

The EP features two tracks. "Jag är din fiende" ("I Am Your enemy") was at the time a new original Shining song, which would subsequently be included on "X: Varg utan flock", but "No Rest for the Wicked", which is a The Coffinshakers cover, is exclusive to this release. "Jag är din fiende" is a brutal, raw, and heavy Shining track, in their trademark blackened metal style with lead vocalist Niklas Kvarforth sounding as deranged as ever, switching between raw snarling and odd semi-melodic shouting. It´s a great song also featuring some sharp heavy riffs and blistering lead guitar work.

Since "Jag är din fiende" is also available on "X: Varg utan flock" it´s of course The Coffinshakers cover which is the greatest attraction of this EP. Shining perform an almost one to one version of the acoustic horror rock song (which is obviously greatly influenced by Johnny Cash), and it´s not much different from the original version. It´s a bit of a shame really, that Shining don´t manage to put their own mark on the song, because it means that this cover is a bit redundant. It´s not bad by any means, but it´s unremarkable.

"Fiende" is a well produced release but as the only attraction here is more or less "No Rest for the Wicked" if you already own "X: Varg utan flock", I´d say it´s not the most obvious buy even for the hardcore fans. Still a 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

UMUR "Lots of Girls Gonna Get Hurt" is an EP release by Swedish black metal act Shining. The EP was released through Spinefarm Records in May 2012 and it bridges the release of the band´s seventh- and eighth full-length studio albums "VII: Född förlorare" (2011) and and "Redefining Darkness" (2012). "Lots of Girls Gonna Get Hurt" features four cover songs of Katatonia, Kent, Imperiet, and Poets Of The Fall (three Swedish artists and one Finnish).

While Shining are probably mostly known as a depressive black metal band, their post-2007 period (from "V: Halmstad (Niklas angående Niklas)" onwards) have featured more and more progressive songwriting, excursions into goth/dark rock territories, and a generally more adventurous approach to writing music, so the release of "Lots of Girls Gonna Get Hurt" really isn´t that surprising. Lead vocalist Niklas Kvarforth have always been vocal about his love for melancholic rock artists like Seigmen, Kent, and Katatonia.

The EP opens with the cover of "For My Demons" by Katatonia and although it´s the most metal oriented of the tracks featured on this EP, it´s actually the weakest of the covers. It´s decent but Kvarforth just doesn´t hit the melancholic heights and subdued vocals of Jonas Renkse. "Utan Dina Andetag" by Kent is a much more successful cover, and it´s great to hear Kvarforth singing pop/rock style vocals with passion and conviction. "Kung Av Jidder" is a cover of Swedish 1980s dark rock/punk act Imperiet, and Shining does a good job with this cover, although the original song isn´t beaten. The Poets Of The Fall cover "Carnival Of Rust" closes the EP, and it´s a good quality cover, but not terribly different from the original rock song (a brilliant song by the Finnish band), and it´s therefore slightly redundant.

"Lots of Girls Gonna Get Hurt" is well produced and upon conclusion I like the idea that a talented artists like Kvarforth stretches his wings and embraces other genres and musical ideas like his done several times before and since...mostly with success. I could have wished for more personal interpretations of the source material, so I immediately would be able to say that it was Shining playing, but when that is said "Lots of Girls Gonna Get Hurt" is still a good quality release and a 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

UMUR "Within Deep Dark Chambers" is the debut full-length studio album by Swedish black metal act Shining. The album was released through Selbstmord Services in 2000. While it´s the band´s first full-length release, Shining did release the two-track "Submit To Selfdestruction" EP in 1998. Since then band leader Niklas Kvarforth has taken over the vocal duties and assembled a whole new lineup to support him. Born in 1983 Kvarforth was still a very young man/boy when writing and recording the material for "Within Deep Dark Chambers" and considering the depressive darkness of the music, he wasn´t exactly a happy teen.

Stylistically "Within Deep Dark Chambers" is dark, angsty, grim, and depressive black metal, featuring noisy atmospheric riffing and pounding drums, and some chilling cold haunting leads, which provide the music with its sad atmosphere (along with the occasional use of eerie sounding keyboards). The vocals are raw and snarling black metal screaming. Kvarforth masters the art of using repetition to build atmosphere and its one of the great strengths of "Within Deep Dark Chambers". One other great asset is the tempo changes, which are quite effective. While Shining often blast away, they also sometimes take the tempo down and play some pretty heavy mid-paced parts with a great brutal groove.

"Within Deep Dark Chambers" features a raw, distorted, high end sound production, which suits the material well, but for all the grimness and noisy nature of the sound production, it´s actually one of the better sounding lo-fi black metal recordings. I can even hear the bass.

In many ways "Within Deep Dark Chambers" is the arch typical depressive black metal album, but there is quality here that you don´t always hear on other similar releases. Kvarforth is a songwriter and he understands the importance of musical drama and dynamics, so while this at times may sound a bit one-dimensional and repetitive it´s clear there is intent behind the compositional style, the production values, and the raw musical performances. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Submit to Selfdestruction" is a 7" EP release by Swedish black metal act Shining. The EP was originally released through Selbstmord Services and limited to 300 hand-numbered vinyl copies but the material from the EP have since been released as part of the "Through Years of Oppression (2004)" compilation album which is easier to find. Needless to say that the original version is a rare collector´s item. The two tracks on the EP were recorded in 1996 by the trio of Wraith aka Niklas Kvarforth (guitars, bass), Robert Ayddan (vocals), and Impaler aka Ted Wedebrand (drums). The former (who was born in 1983), was only 13 years old at the time of recording the material...

...which is not audible when listening to the music, as both tracks are very well developed and cleverly composed. It´s a heavy and predominantly mid-paced (although occasionally a little faster-paced, but there are no blast beats or anything like that here) atmospheric type of black metal. The mood is bleak and depressing as are the lyrics. The vocals are screaming and desperate. The sound production is raw and primitive yet still effectful and powerful. While it´s not the most clear sounding production job, you still get a good idea of the band´s vision, and it´s not one of those lo-fi "recorded in the bedroom" type black metal productions, where the artist have made every effort to make it sound as noisy, murky, and raw as possible. On the other hand it´s not a production I´d call professional either, but it suits the music well, and that´s the important part.

Shining weren´t the most technically skilled musicians at this point, and considering their age, that´s not really a surprise, but the music is generally well performed and upon conclusion "Submit To Selfdestruction" is a promising first release by Shining. Featuring a playing time of 13:32 minutes the EP also allows the listener to get aquainted with the sound of Shining and in that respect it´s certainly a successful release. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.

siLLy puPPy There are some people who are just born to be unhappy despite living in the most fortunate of circumstances. For some reason, Scandinavia has plenty of unhappy souls despite having one of the highest standards of living in the world. Such is the case with young Niklas Kvarforth who started his depressive black metal band SHINING (the Swedish band, not the Norwegian jazz-metal group of the same name) at the tender age of 12. Depressive black metal set itself apart early on in the 90s distinguishing itself other black metal in that it doesn’t focus on misanthropy or Satanic themes but rather on self-destruction and all the negative emotions associated with suicide and self hatred. WITHIN DEEP DARK CHAMBERS is the full debut album by Kvarforth who contributes vocals, guitar and keyboard with his lineup of other sickened souls: Tusk on bass, Ted Wedebrand on drums and additional disturbed vocalizations by Andreas Classen.

This debut album is pretty much in line with the depressive black metal scene of the 90s in that it utilizes an overall repetitive, hypnotic and monotonous feel that incorporates the wall of sound guitar frenzy with atmospheric keys, occasional chimes and midstream drums meaning that blastbeats are uncommon and the drums lazily accompany the fuzz feed frenzy. Perhaps the most “depressive” aspect of SHINING’s first album is not only the uncompromising fury of the music but mostly of Kvarforth’s anguished and tortured vocals above all else. This is one of those albums that simply excels in distressed fury and keeps me on pins and needles wondering if dude isn’t gonna do himself in on the final track just to have a musical place in history. Fortunately not so as i like future SHINING albums better than this one. But wow. This definitely fits the depressive black metal bill. Not recommended as music for grandma’s funeral.

While this album excels at keeping every shimmer of light from entering the boarded up windows and screams a razor blade, case of aspirin with vodka and carbon monoxide party, the music is fairly straight forward as this was before SHINING started experimenting with more progressive elements as to add more sophistication to self-hating pity party. The music here has the regular black metal buzzsaw grunge, where the guitars and bass are one and the raspy vocals wax and wane between traumatic black metal tantrums about how horrible the world is with utter resignation to the life sucks affirmations. The weakness here is the percussion as it is as languid as a salamander in the arctic and merely keeps the beat and not much else. Overall, this is a decent slice of depressive black metal but some of the tracks which hint towards progressiveness such as “Stonelands” and “And Only Silence Remains…” tend to meander for far too long, however the inclusion of church bells and slow parts in the latter does make it a bit more interesting at times.