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BLACKJAZZ

 Thursday, January 28th, 2010 at 12:31pm by

shining - blackjazzThere are only so many metal riffs you can assemble out of the 12 notes in the western scale. Perhaps that’s why I’ve found myself extending my musical arms outside of what might be traditionally called “metal” lately; bands like Carnal Rapture and Lye by Mistake blew my mind last year because they take something that’s distinctly not metal and pile upon it something that distinctly is.

Norway’s Shining do much the same thing, although the “black” lexeme in the title of their latest album Blackjazz — released this week on Indie Recordings, and by The End in the U.S. — is kind of misleading. It’s more like Industrojazz. With the assistance of producer Sean Beavan (NIN, Marilyn Manson, Slayer), the songs on Blackjazz pulsate, undulate, bleep and bloop underneath progressions and note combos that sound jazzy to these admittedly untrained ears. The snarls and growls of vocalist Munkeby keep things firmly grounded in modern metal though, in stark contrast (in the best possible way) to the lead saxaphone lines played by the same man.

Intrigued? Check out the two tracks from Blackjazz that Shining have up on their MySpace page. I’ve yet to sink my teeth into the full album, but after focusing on the frenetic, mind-spinning instrumental passage in the middle of “The Madness and the Damage Done” and the scorching saxophone solo at the end of “Fisheye” I’m going immediately to dig this one out from the pile of MS promo packages. Shining are fucking different, and I like it.

-VN

[Thanks: Fritz]

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  • Ray

    Dug this and really enjoyed similar stuff like Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble. They’ve got an awesome cover of “Patra” by Saint Vitus up on their website. Jazz Metal = Gold

  • Hammer_Smashed_Hurtt

    You can do anything with the 12 note western scale. Think outside the Typical Minor Pent. “Blues Scale” and the skys the limit.

  • http://thenumberoftheblog.wordpress.com/ groverXIII

    Great stuff… I’ve been gearing up for a review of this, actually. It’s weird, but awesome.

  • http://music.msn.com/superfans/heavy-metal/blog pdf

    Two things:

    1) If you like this album, you might not necessarily like their earlier stuff as much. This one is much heavier (the last track is a cover of King Crimson’s “21st Century Schizoid Man” with guest vocals from Grutle Kjellson of Enslaved) than the two before it.

    2) Jorgen Munkeby, the vocalist/saxophonist, also plays the sax on the new Ihsahn album.

    • King Cheezit

      Thanks for the info dude! I’m really digging their stuff.

    • http://thenumberoftheblog.wordpress.com/ groverXIII

      I didn’t make the connection, but that’s awesome. I loved the sax work on the Ihsahn album.

    • http://myspace.com/duckbillz Duck Billz

      This band actually has four albums prior to Blackjazz. Munkeby also used to be in a band, Jaga Jazzist, who just released a new record. Fantastic bands, both.

  • Reznik

    WTF! There’s two bands shining one from Norway and one from Sweden. I like the from Sweden

  • iolanach

    Yeah, thought he was talking about the Swedish one too.

    Glad he wasn’t.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jason-Lekberg/779008102 Jason Lekberg

    black jazz = Boren And Der Club of Gore. Buy every single album. You won’t be disappointed.

    • Meekal

      +100
      Fucking LOVE that band.

  • JOnny fIve aces

    another victory for Kvarforth’s penis. yes, I know this isn’t the swedish shining.

  • JOnny fIve aces

    I swear, something like 98% of metal listeners have no idea what jazz is, or even the common tropes it comprises. Something that sounds slightly more chromatic or syncopated than “regular” metal is not automatically jazzy or even jazz-influenced. This sounds like a cross between a very technical Muse (“wacky” keyboards) and some knockoff ’70s hard rock riffs. The vocalist’s cadence is very poppy even if his tone lies somewhere in the real of “extreme.”

    • http://www.metalsucks.net Vince Neilstein

      I include myself in that 98% who have no idea what it is. Hence my “untrained ear” disclaimer.

    • http://myspace.com/grobiwunder grobi wunder

      Seconded.
      I actually saved this one for later in the evening yesterday because of attending a jazz concert. I was a bit disappointed by it after that, I just couldn’t find any jazz in that.
      Not that it’s bad, mind you, this is just not jazz…

  • joshkid

    Damn, this band is very intriguing. Love it.
    Thanks Vince (& Fritz).

  • Andy

    If you’re digging this, you may want to check out Jaga Jazzist as well. They also happen to have a new album (first in years) out this month. They’ve shared members with Shining in the past, and while not anywhere near metal, they do some interesting things with the mashup of genres.

    I agree that this album is much more straightforward metal/industrial (although I think most drums are in fact acoustic) than past though. The “jazziest” song on the album is probably HELTERSKELTER (which is itself a do-over of a track off a previous album).

    • http://myspace.com/duckbillz Duck Billz

      This dude fuckin’ beat me to the punch. High-five to Jaga Jazzist.

  • Douchebag

    Just because they use saxophone, doesn’t make the band automatically jazzy. This band is good though, but nothing jazzy about it.

  • jtquake

    Wow, this is pretty incredible. I agree that it’s VERY different from anything I’ve heard in a long time.

    Quite entertaining.

  • musicalsnob

    i wouldn’t be so quick to deem this “new”, it kinda seems like i heard this music before with my life with the thrill kill cult and genghis tron. besides the few squeaks and beeps brought on by a synthesizer i would say that would be the only difference.

    and yea there is a saxaphone woaaa, metal has always had odd instruments incorporated into thier music ie Bonn Scott ACDC (bagpipes) etc

    and yes 70s era acdc is metal.

    same old rehashed industrial music, with a tinge of dillinger spazz out moments

    meh

    • Jugglemonkey

      It doesn’t matter if it’s metal or not, that song is fucking awesome. RIP Bon Scott.

  • I’m not racst, but I hate Oceano

    I don’t really hear the jazz influence too much to be honest.

  • Ziltoid

    The Swedish Shining is better. Y’know, the one who released “V – Halmstad.”

    • Austin

      I’m with Ziltoid on this one. This is just not as good as Swedish Shining. Halmstad is fucking incredible.

  • Kye

    Yea, I’m gunna agree with the two(I think I only saw two) people that like the Swedish Shining better.

    Not to say this isn’t good, but I could go on for days about how much I love the other one.

  • http://www.flamingtusk.com Zosimus

    The fact that you guys bust out with vocabulary like “lexeme” is why I am a MetalSucks reader. Well, that and all the titties.

  • Reznik

    One of the shinings have to change their name, seriously

  • http://thenumberoftheblog.wordpress.com/ groverXIII

    Finished up my review… I like this album. There have been better releases this year, but it’s good stuff.

  • http://thesameold-scott.blogspot.com/ intoc

    Their previous albums are much more jazzy/experimental. Kind of odd that this one has jazz in the title. Still, I absolutely love this shit.

  • SourDeez

    I totally though of a different band called Shining when I saw this, but they’re from Sweden. They’re actually the one awesome metal band shown to me by my girl (instead of the other way around). This other Scandinavian Shining is pretty cool though, I’m digging it.

  • godiva