Advantages: A varied and intriguing listen, great guitar work, good production Disadvantages: Avantgarde vocals may be offputting to some
"Yesterday upon the stair I saw a man who wasn't there He wasn't there again today Oh how I wish he'd go away." So begins Swedish depressive black metal band Shining's fifth full length, 'Halmstad', a complex beast which successfully merges prog rock, black metal and classical influences. The album deals with mental illness, the cover depicting a gaunt looking man holding a pistol in his mouth, whilst the inner sleeve contains further images of self-mutilation ... ...metal of old Shining remain, these are accentuated by spanish guitars and gloomy sprawling riffs reminiscent of Opeth alongside warm, bluesy Pink-Floyd-esque flourishes. These lighter elements are contrasted by sections of frantic blastbeats, heavy, up-tempo doom riffs, and even an industrial backbone on track 4 that would not sound out of place on a Rammstein album. The album is largely structured around the 'black and roll' style of catchy yet ...
Burning_Darkness 12.06.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Halmstad - Shining