Shining-International Blackjazz Society (2015)

Shining-International Blackjazz Society (2015)

“Great musicians accept everything that they hear and find something good. They take what they like and they throw away what they don't like.”

John Zorn

By: Ghost Writer

Norway is not only the place where the great TV Series Lillyhammer took place or where great literature like Karl Ove Knausgard great long literary saga Min Kamp (Yes, controversially My Struggle, just like that guy named Adolf’s), it's also the place were great music, not only black metal, is happening; It seems that Norway has a long history as a place widely open to exciting new things such as free jazz and improvised music, some of the wildest cats in free jazz, like Albert Ayler or Peter Brotzmann took refuge there and in Sweden, where they were very well accepted, I consider that to this day, Norway and Sweden enjoy very healthy free jazz scenes with interesting groups playing there, with amazing players fearless in their quest for maximum sounds, without commercial compromises, and of course, there are all kinds of exciting crazy experiments going on like Shining, an amazing band, and their musical conjure known as "blackjazz".

International Blackjazz Society is Norway's Shining latest record, it confirms the band's status as one of the most daring bands in the European extreme metal experimental scene, with an astonishing affinity for both modern aggressive metal and always amazing free jazz, the band's wide range of motion is nothing less than impressive, a massive wall of sound that is so dynamic that can go many places in seconds, just an instant into this new record and you get a powerful blast of burning saxophone right in your face, just as the band quickly changes moods and gets into the metal side of their sound, taking elements both from modern metal, including brutal elements like dissonant guitar arrangements more in common with the world of jazz, dynamic beats with an electronic influence in its dynamic beats, and of course a dash or two of black metal´s abrasiveness, in less words, this band is not afraid of almost trying everything they want.

If it wasn’t for the love of complex jazz like structures, it would be hard to separate Shining from modern day metal avatars like Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails or The Dillinger Escape Plan, instrumental and production wise they are very close to the former, they aren’t so far removed from modern metal, but somehow the band manages to imprint a great of a unique personality still in development, while on Admittance the bands goes for the nearly hard aggression of Mr. Manson, when sax and disjointed guitars make their apparition, is hard to found any more similarities with Manson hard hitting stuff, and on The Last Stand more industrial elements start to sparkle on the mix, the band looks more for atmosphere, escaping that way from the fatal fate of a mere clone by adding really complex sound elements, going to sonic extremes that the aforementioned bands dare to visit, the intricacy of their beats, the tight guitars and the punishing keyboards adding not only texture to the songs but a new dimension, like on the cyber punk of Burn it All, or the mammoth drumming and crazy sax wailing of Last Day, the band is relentless in its attack, demonstrating the amazing stamina of each part of this killing machine form Norway.

International Blackjazz Society might not actually sounds like it looks, this is no John Zorn stuff exactly, although Zorn might obviously be a powerful influence on one side of the band, Math Rock, might also be a clue to this unique mix, as their sound jumps and revolts from one crazy direction to another even more crazier one in a matter of seconds, although the term Blackjazz might make salivate some extreme music listeners, like when we heard about the “Grindjazz” thing to describe Zorn music with Naked City, and when the term “Deathjazz” was used to describe Atheist, the term Blackjazz might be a little too much for Shining, as it is not exactly black metal, nor jazz, Math Metal with a sax might be a more appropriate term, but in the end, Who cares about terms? This is great extreme music, very daring at some times, and generous in volume.