SWEDEN’S SHINING MAKE A GO AT “MOST DISTURBING VIDEO OF 2011”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSNLnDH6tjA&feature=player_embedded
Shining — the Swedish “Opeth of black metal” band, not the Norwegian Blackjazz-with-saxophone one — have a new album out called VII / Född Förlorare, which in English means “Born Loser.” I haven’t had a chance to give it a listen yet, but thanks to the always-reliable Islander at No Clean Singing I hereby pledge to do so immediately after writing this post.*
Like Nachtmystium’s haunting video for “Every Last Drop,” the new video for Shining’s “Förtvivlan, Min Arvedel” (English translation: “Despair, My Inheritance”) deals with drug addiction, and in this case self-mutilation, in a very serious way. It’s not NSFW, but if you just ate lunch and plan on keeping it down you’d do best to wait until later to watch it. For the really faint of heart, there’s a “PG” version that I’ve posted after the jump. Make sure you watch it one way or the other; the video was shot and edited extremely well and held my interest all the way through.
As for the song, it’s positively arresting and immediately has me aching to hear the rest of the album from which it came. I love the way Islander summarized it: “It’s almost two songs in one — a galvanizing charge of groove-inscribed black-metal catharsis and a haunting melody carried by acoustic guitar and clean singing. Yet those two creations are twined together, the one flowing seamlessly into the other and back again in a way that makes perfect sense.”
*As a side note, apparently I will be forced to pirate this album. As Spinefarm Records apparently doesn’t want money from Americans, the album isn’t available for digital download on either Amazon or iTunes. Of all record labels that are really blowing it in 2011 with regards to international release dates, Spinefarm is pretty close to the top. Money left on the table. Sucks to be them, and worse, sucks for Shining to be on a label that doesn’t “get” the Internet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkKPSnECIIk&feature=player_embedded
