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Not
to be confused with their Swedish black metal
counterparts of ‘I slice my wrists for show’ fame, this
Norwegian quartet just delivered the most bombastic
record this side of the new decade. No kidding. Check
out the first tune “The Madness and the Damage Done” and
prepare to be consumed by the sheer grandiosity of pseudo
industrial, pseudo metal and pseudo jazz rock. Frankly,
the track seems like an exaggeration of everything. The
guitars sound super filtered as shat on by a gigantic
electric whale, while the drums move fluidly and
hectically through perfectly symmetric spaces. There is
nothing here that would make you think that Black Jazz
was created and produced by actual humans. Not even the vocals,
which sound a bit like the post apocalyptic berates of a
post black metal crazy. The song is so ridiculous I
could only compare it to the absurdity of Nitro’s
classic O.F.R.('out-fucking-rageous-wowoowwowwoo')
One would
think that after such hyper kinetic display of metallic
frenetism Shining would let up a little but they don’t. The
songs in this album soldier on with admirable stamina and enough
robotic soul to fuel ten Fear Factory records. The rhythms are
broken with, if totally played by humans, admirable technique. I
am not crazy about the guitar sound, it’s almost as if Mr.
Roboto was the axeman here, but the riffs themselves are in
essence simplistic, quirky and are shed so fast they seem intricate. The
vocals, yeah, they are like screams frozen by the Norwegian
winter wind.
The ‘jazz’
comes in parts and is not all over. “Healter Skelter” with its
leading curvy sax notes sounds cool because it’s served
alongside intricate drumming and labirynthine riffage. It’s the
stuff of virtuosos and is highly enjoyable. It also sounds like
it was actually played by humans instead of cyborgs. It’s
complicated stuff that keeps its human spirit because the
guitars don’t sound so industrial and the vocals are absent. At
this point, I get it. Shining is a band of musicians. Awe
inspiring rockers in search of music that’s oh so complicated. But
some of the songs in Black Jazz are so out there that they will
appeal to fans of mathematics more than music.
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