Sweden's Shining unveil a devastating new track

Their roots may be in black metal, but mercurial Swedes Shining’s mission has never been to affirm the movement’s orthodoxies, so much to provide an ultra-sensitive barometer for the turbulent psyche of frontman Niklas Kvarforth.

Reaching into realms of cinematic despair, coruscating rites of catharsis and moments of sublime, acoustic delicacy, Shining’s forthcoming album, IX - Everyone, Everything, Everywhere, Ends, due out on April 20, furthers Niklas journey though personal terrain only the bravest, or most foolhardy, would dare to tread. Thanks to Season Of Mist Records, we have an exclusive preview in the haunting form of Framtidsutsikter, a seven-minute-plus pilgrimage through emotional hinterlands where enervated acoustic passages descend into dissonant atmospherics, escalate from weathered laments that suggest an underground Leondard Cohen to charred, spittle-flecked testimonies, all mapping out an intimate dialogue with personal demons that resonate with a rare and soul-wringing honesty.

Take the path less travelled with Framtidsutsikter below!

Take your life into your own hands at Shinging’s Facebook page here!

And pre-order IX - Everyone, Everything, Everywhere, Ends here!

Having freelanced regularly for the Melody Maker and Kerrang!, and edited the extreme metal monthly, Terrorizer, for seven years, Jonathan is now the overseer of all the album and live reviews in Metal Hammer. Bemoans his obsolete superpower of being invisible to Routemaster bus conductors, finds men without sideburns slightly circumspect, and thinks songs that aren’t about Satan, swords or witches are a bit silly.