Reviews list for Shining (SWE) - V - Halmstad (2007)

My only exposure to Shining prior to hearing V-Halmstad was when I bought III-Angst not long after it was released. I didn't like that album back then (although that has since changed), sold it on and never gave Shining another thought for the next seventeen or eighteen years. So when V-Halmstad popped up as an Academy feature release (November 2020) I wasn't especially invigorated by the prospect. Well, more fool I because, as it turns out, this is one of the finest metal albums I have ever heard and as close to a perfect album as it's ever going to get in my view. I must admit to even being a little bit intimidated by actually reviewing it because I am more than aware of my inability to express in words exactly how much the album has affected me and how highly I think of it, but I will give it a go nonetheless.

First, let's get it out of the way - this is in no way a depressive black metal album, in the accepted sense at least. Thematically, it absolutely deals with mental illness, depression and suicide, but the generally accepted tropes of DSBM are almost entirely absent. Listen to the entire roster of a label like War Against Yourself who specialise in DSBM releases and nobody on that label sounds even remotely like this. For a start the production is superb, not for these guys the shitty, treble-heavy, lo-fi approach. The sound clarity is great and has a solidity that enables the band to fully realise their vision without being handicapped by poor production values. Secondly, I'm not even sure if this can properly be referred to as a black metal album at all. For sure, it's roots are in black metal, but it has more in common with bands like Cult of Luna and Isis than Darkthrone and Immortal. There is hardly any focus on riffs and blastbeats, though both are present the emphasis lies elsewhere. Rather the band use the weapons of black metal to weave a tapestry of sound that is intended to evoke a specific emotion and atmosphere, which is pretty much the dictionary definition of post-metal.

The album commences with a weary-sounding intonation of the opening verse of the poem Antigonish, which begins "As I was going up the stair, I met a man who wasn't there", a poem I have always found unsettling and it is delivered in such a way that the listener can clearly tell the speaker has a particularly troubled mind. It is apparent from the outset that this is going to be no ordinary black metal album.

For me, this is an album that can be experienced on two levels. Firstly, it is a fantastic example of progressive/post- black metal from a band who are at the top of their game both compositionally and technically and can certainly be enjoyed as such. On a second and more subtle level, it conveys a real sense of what it can be like to experience mental difficulties. This may only be apparent to those who are able to recognize the allusions due to personal experience. The constant shifts in energies from violent and angry, to contemplative and inward-looking, to frenzied and unfocussed, to bewildered and desperate are more than mere movements in a song, but are representations of the state of mind of the album's protagonist and their inability to maintain an even temperament. Even the short piano piece, Åttiosextusenfyrahundra which is a working of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata is more than it appears. You can faintly hear the protagonist trying to hum along to the tune, as if by so doing he can absorb some of the inate peacefulness that the melody represents into his own soul, something for which he yearns more than anything, yet is denied. The lyrics are sung in the band's native Swedish and I haven't tried to translate them, yet somehow that seems irrelevant because the album's intent is communicated so well that literal meaning seems unnecessary. Kvarforth's vocals here have an unhinged quality, sounding a little bizarre at times, even to the point of parody. There are also a couple of distressed and distressing samples that belie the subtlety of the rest of the album and may put off some listeners. These, along with the ill-advised cover, feel a bit ham-fisted and unnecessary, but are truly the only gripes I have.

However, despite what view you may hold about the the theme and meaning, you really should not dismiss the fact that this is a brilliant metal album, loaded with atmosphere and at times heavy as fuck, for example a couple of minutes into second track Längtar Bort Från Mitt Hjärta the gentle intro subsides and Shining decide to kick your ass, just to remind you that they can. The album also contains some of the best and most frenzied guitar solos I've ever heard on a black metal album.

For me, this is one of the most meaningful metal albums I have ever come across and I have found it a most affecting listen. It is one of those exceedingly rare releases that has made me re-evaluate my listening history and is now firmly ensconced as one of my all-time favourite albums, to rival classics like Watching From A Distance or A Blaze in the Northern Sky.

I hadn't revisited 2007's "V - Halmstad (Niklas Angående Niklas)" album from Swedish depressive black metal outfit Shining for more than a decade but once I returned to it last week I quickly remembered why I initially found it to be such an interesting listen. It really asks questions of your average DSBM fan as it goes against the grain in many ways. Firstly, the production is crystal clear which is directly opposed to the lo-fi approach that most of Shining's peers take when attempting to create atmosphere & I think it works beautifully here. Perhaps it's due to the fact that it highlights the exceptional level of musicianship & a much more diverse & progressive musical palate than you'd generally expect from a black metal outfit. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it's debatable as to whether "V - Halmstad" is even black metal in the traditional sense of the term. Despite the fact that Shining utilize traditional black metal tools fairly consistently throughout the album, the production, musicianship, experimentation in style & unusual vocal techniques never allow them to sound like a black metal band in the purest sense. (I feel similarly about Primordial's classic releases actually.) Post-black metal is perhaps a more accurate tag for "V - Halmstad" than anything else but it still doesn't fit all that comfortably.

Regardless of what most reviews say, I actually don't find "V - Halmstad" to sound all that depressive in a musical sense either. I think people are mainly led down that path by the samples, cover art & lyrics (which are in Swedish) as well as the insane & overthetop vocal delivery & stage antics of Kvarforth but it's also possible that I simply can't relate to these sort of feelings & therefore aren't able to connect with the music in the same way. Kvarforth's vocals are a bit of a struggle for me at times to be honest. At his best his blood-curdling howls & croaks remind me of Mayhem/Aborym/Tormentor/Sunn O))) front man Attila Csihar but at his worst he sounds pretty similar to Zed from the Police Academy movies. Some of the suicidal & depressive movie samples are very effective but I do think they go too far with pushing these themes at times as there are one or two sections that are simply too miserable to make for enjoyable listening, instead making the listener feel significantly uneasy. The first two tracks are spectacular & I always feel like I'm heading towards a very high scoring result early on but, even though there are no weak tracks on offer, the middle of the album sees a decline in overall impact before taking an upwards turn & finishing with a couple of very solid & effective pieces. 

Overall, this is a high quality & ambitious piece of work that should appeal to fans of Silencer, Forgotten Tomb & Bethlehem.

I typically avoid Depressive Suicidal Black Metal (DSBM) as most of it typically wallows in its own sadness, while being drenched in a cloud that is more representative of Funeral Doom Metal than anything "Black". That being said, I did have some previous exposure to Shining with their 2018 album X Varg Utan Flock, which was a mostly enjoyable album due to its sonic palette being more in the vein of the genre that they are usually tagged under. However, it was an album that faded from my memory, even within a year where my metal exposure was greatly limited.

So going back in time, I checked back in with this band and their 2007 classic, V . Halmstad. And I can truthfully say that I was less than impressed by this. Now in some regards, I can see this record being unique. For starters, V . Halmstad is more in line with what you might expect to hear out of the black 'n' roll scene, highlighted by later groups such as Kvelertak. The riffage is far more conventional and leaning towards hard rock as well as some doom metal from time to time. The vocals are really what make it stand out though. Niklas Kvarforth does not have the presence behind the microphone that one would expect from a black metal album. Instead, the vocals sound half baked as if he cannot even be bothered to say them. Now, this may be apart of the appeal of a DSBM record such as this; a general sense of tiredness from the anger is dependent to make you feel like the depression is weighing him down so heavy that he cannot even be bothered to get out of bed in the morning. And I can respect that attention to detail.

That being said, I would like it a lot more if it didn't sound unfinished and really cheap. Kvarforth's vocals constantly switch back and forth between a tired wail of contempt, and emphatic cries of agony, emphasized by the OOF's that you hear that are reminiscent of James Hetfield on the song "Fuel". Because these two emotions rarely make sense simultaneously, it creates a weird dichotomy throughout the entire album. It's also not helped by the instrumentals and the overall production. Overall, the instrumentals sound clean and focused and make transitions between sections of a song very well. I was thoroughly by the acoustic guitar timbre than filled out the second track on the album. Very reminiscent of some really potent death/funeral doom metal such as Swallow The Sun.

Now I realize that my underwhelming reaction to this album could be in large part due to the language barrier. As it stands, I do not know Swedish, nor will I ever learn Swedish to understand this record on a base level. But I have never been a big fan of DSBM as I mentioned at the beginning of my review. It feels wrong to listen to an album where you know the artist in question is in a state such as this; a large part as to why I cannot stand Korn albums. But with this? I just don't buy it. It just isn't personal enough for Kvarforth or myself to resonate with any of the self-loathing of nihilism. 

As a whole album however, I think I would like it more if it was playing to a different audience. If it leaned towards the more nihilistic side of Doom Metal, I might have been more charitable. As a Black Metal album, it feels less developed than it should, production is not the greatest, and the stakes feel less urgent. For an album that is as close to the brink of destruction as it implies, Halmstad is very safe.

By far one of the cleverest records ever written in the realms of black metal (and this is so much more than just a black metal album, with the genre only really being present as a sniff here and there), V-Halmstad is textured both on an emotional and instrumentation level, intriguing in the darkest sense of morbid curiosity you could muster and constantly exudes class.

Whenever I hear that an album is "depressive bm" I think of lo-fi production values and repetitive and (all too often sadly) monotonous tracks.  The impending sense of desolation often being replaced by a habit of hitting the skip button as records fail to deliver the true emotional value of the subject matter that they promise.  The smart thing about this record is that it approaches the depressive elements from a very much real-world view of how the illness manifests and distorts experiences that don't always start out as being that despondent in nature.

For large parts of the record there are pounding rhythms and a thumping pace, sultry lead work that is reminiscent of Judas Priest, almost progressive lead work, hell, there's even hooks on here.  Yet at the same time there's forehead to dashboard style lunges on the brakes that allow this suffocating veil of dejection to smother the mood.  Spoken word sections creep in over ethereal passages of dark and yet wonderfully melodic music, with harrowing words of misery, despair and hopelessness that cause the breath to catch in your throat.  What Kvarforth has done here is manage to weave depression into the songs in a purely organic manner.  His experiences of mental health illness are on display on all six of these tracks.

Bizarrely, the album comes off in more than one place as being the darkest of cabaret; in its more slow-paced and melodic moments almost like some soundtrack to a gritty Scandinavian police drama.  But when the riffs let rip there's real power behind them (helped in no small part by the superb production job), you can hear the rumbles and the runs of the bass clearly and the demented, shrieking vocals of Kvarforth range from outbursts of maniacal utterings to grim statements of the blackest truths.   My only criticism of the record is that at times his vocal style borders on comical (once or twice).  Beyond that this a creative masterpiece, laden with the heaviest of emotions and full of sullen meanderings.