AN NCS PREMIERE: SHINING — “FRAMTIDSUTSIKTER”

IX – Everyone, Everything, Everywhere, Ends is the name of the new album by Sweden’s Shining, which is due for release on April 21 by Season of Mist, and today we bring you the North American premiere of the album’s third track, “Framtidsutsikter”.

Shining’s creative mastermind Niklas Kvarforth made the following comment about the song:

“Following similar paths as several other ‘ballads’ of ours, ‘Framtidsutsikter’ (‘Future Prospects’), melds all of them together into an epic journey in a downward spiral. Coincidence and the pure joy of creating something horrible made this song into what it is. Relying on a pulsating vibe of hopelessness and despair, this song is for me personally almost unbearable to listen to. That will make things extremely interesting when performing it live, and it will probably be considered as one of the darker turns in our two decades long career. All hail misery!”

 

 

An introduction like that should peak your curiosity.  “One of the darker turns in our two decades long career”? A song that, for Kvarforth, is “personally almost unbearable to listen to”? One might have thought that there was no dark or demented crevice of the human mind that Shining had failed to explore.

The aching emotional resonance of “Framtidsutsikter” doesn’t stem from any of the usual ravaging tropes of traditional black metal. Mainly slow and measured, it mixes sombre acoustic notes and bleak tremolo chords, soulful guitar soloing and the thrum of a pulsating bass, to produce an aura that’s both wistful and despairing. Before the song ends, with a rainy-day acoustic melody, it ramps up and transforms into a driving rocker with a riveting guitar solo.

The music has a way of creeping up on you. It’s seductive, it infiltrates tendrils of moody melody into your head, it becomes engrossing, and the music stays there even after the song ends. But the true emotional core of the song, where the pain and the misery dwell, lies in Kvarforth’s highly varied vocal expressions, which are charismatic and commanding.

Below you will find the album’s track list and the line-up of performers on the album:

Track List:

1. Den Påtvingade Tvåsamheten
2. Vilja & Dröm
3. Framtidsutsikter
4. Människotankens Vägglösa Rum
5. Inga Broar Kvar Att Bränna
6. Besök Från I(ho)nom

Line-up:

Niklas Kvarforth – Vocals
Peter Huss – Guitars
Christian Larsson – Bass
Euge Valovirta – Guitars
Rainer Tuomikanto – Drums

The album can be pre-ordered from Season of Mist here.

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