“There is a beast in man,” said the late Church Of Satan Founder, Anton LaVey, “that should be exercised, not exorcised.” More than anyone else in the extreme metal world, Shining (Swe)’s Niklas Kvarforth has taken that adage to heart, his long history of dealing with mental illness obliterating the barrier between art and life, where both have become turbulent theatre of war.
Spells in mental homes, onstage bloodletting and subsequent hospitalisation, a six-month ‘disappearance’ during which he was presumed dead and a raft of other incidents that suggest a smarter, wittier, more artistically gifted heir to GG Allin has been let loose – all of this finds its most dramatic expression in Shining’s music.
Long since unmoored from their black metal roots, Shining albums have become immersive, utterly involving psychodramas that span possessed-prophet rants, mass-brawl aggression, progressive pilgrimages and moments of devastating sensitivity, for all its unstable nature, unfurling with a dynamic coherence that a marker of rare, fuse-lighting honesty.
With the band’s 10th album, X - Varg Utan Flock, due to abscond from that veritable metal institution, Season Of Mist Records, on January 5, 2018, the band are releasing a 10-inch single, Fiende on November 24 – and we have a stream of the the a-side, Jag Är Din Fiende (‘I Am Your Enemy’), which will also be on the full-length.
“The track, Jag Är Din Fiende, from our upcoming 10th album,” says Niklas himself, “embodies everything that Shiningrepresents on a musical level. An uncompromising mix of high and low tainted with a sinister atmosphere of horrible unease. Lyrically, this track speaks of the need and means for retribution, making not only this, but the album overall, infused with a nightmarish maliciousness and a pitch-black hatred that hasn’t been as prominent on our earlier albums. There is a war coming and this is our statement on what we have in store for you!”
So without further ado, dive into the stormy, emotional ocean that is Jag Är Din Fiende below!
Check out Shining’s Facebook here and pre-order Fiende here!
