This is really an abundantly strange CD that comes to my house. Although it is already their third release I never had heard anything about SHINING before. This could change now. And that not only because of the co-operation of the well known Hellhammer behind the drums but also because there are exceptional things to hear. Ok, it deals with Black Metal but it seems to me as though (or despite) due to the weird mentality of the band (according to the info the band want to drive the mankind to suicide via music) they are much closer to the roots of what this musical direction was once about.

Curiously wise they make it because they don’t warm up all of the so much overstrained clichés of the last time. In fact I think that they even have a look over the edge of the plate and besides a lot of things are in an other way as usual.
It straight starts out with the first track Mörda dig själv.... The bearing melody lines sound more like Independent to me, almost like shredding Retro-Brit-Stone-Pop/Rock etc., while the blast parts have completely stoned-sounding bass lines in them. Nevertheless the aimed effect doesn’t fail: it develops a Nordic dark soundscape which offers no space for effervescent optimism but on the contrary spreads severe cold. Already here you may notice that the speed is not too shortly dosed, but the real oppressive parts are the slower ones.
The second song Svart Industriell Olycka even sounds darker with dazzlingly fast guitars and an amazing drum work by Hellhammer. The very fact how this mad man handles the cymbals is just stunning. But also the slow and crushing atmosphere of this track catches you, even if I won’t slash my arteries immediately...

In about the same style the next two songs are presented. The title track sets more on mangy old school BM, whereby you also can find a very quiet centerpiece with interspersed acoustic guitars, before the song comes to its end more slowly. Whereas Submit To Self-Destruction ranges mostly in powerful mid-paced fields while interesting breaks and even a guitar solo gives you variety.
After a more like from the Hammer Studio sounding horror intermezzo, it follows with more than 10 minutes Face Of Faceless, the longest and last song on this album, where the listener should be willing to finally take the rope...
But also here you can find parts, beside harsh bombast and brawly singing, that strongly rise up into Independent fields without losing heaviness and cold. Such a felicitous fusion I found at last in the unfortunately deceased Unholy (who had been more devoted to Death Metal).

Beside the avoidance of the typical boring satanic and/or antichristian knickknacks it also attracts positive attention the absence of any keyboards as well as the production, which sounds enough underground to be noncommercial, but which also does not conceal the musical fineness. The only flaw to report is the fact that SHINING really seems to be serious with their statements. Or I have some problems with my comprehension of humour. Unfortunately there are no lyrics to light out this point closer. The band’s website is more uninformative than anything else and about the announced „mentally disturbed, sexually perverted shows“ I don’t even want to think about. For lacking of further information I only restrict to the music and this is truly above any doubts. In this respect a great album!