Since Norway’s jazz-metal outfit, Shining, shocked the music world with their genre-defining and now classic “Blackjazz” in January 2010, people have been asking themselves if it’s humanly possible at all to reproduce the sheer ferocity and aggressiveness on a stage, while still retaining the machinelike precision displayed in their punishing studio tracks.
It’s time to put all doubts aside: With their newest release, a live album and a concert DVD recorded during one single concert in Norway, Shining set a new standard in the kingdom where they are already dictating the agenda.
For the first time ever, the raw energy of their legendary live performances has been captured on tape in a setting organized solely by the band itself. Produced by the multi-talented front-man Munkeby, and backed by the same mixing and mastering team as on their previous Blackjazz studio album, we could not get a truer version of what Blackjazz is meant to be. Straight from the horse’s mouth, this is the new standard that bands will strive to match for the next 10 or 20 years to come.
Munkeby comments: “This is basically the “Greatest Hits” album we had always dreamt of, now beautifully combined with breath-taking film footage vibrating with power. It feels good to know that people can now truly experience how much fire and effort we pour into our live shows. It could not have been better!”
With all the blackness and all the humor, “Live Blackjazz” is the perfect display of a new genre rising. With all it’s technicality and all it’s rough shooting from the hip. With the trademark meltdown guitar tones and the Bonham-reborn-as-an-android drumming. Finally we also have the proof; the saxophone is the new Devil’s instrument.
As we’ve come to expect from this band, every detail in the production chain is top-notch, and contributors at the very top of their game has been fetched from around the world. Collaborators include mixing engineer Sean Beavan (Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, Slayer), mastering engineer Tom Baker (Marilyn Manson, David Lynch, Nine Inch Nails) in Hollywood, and colorist John Cryer (Muse) in London. Continuing in the vein of legendary and genre-defining album titles, the band again showcase their utter confidence with both the metal and the jazz history, by nodding elegantly to both Miles Davis’ “Live Evil” and the album of the same name by Black Sabbath. This is what Alive was for Kiss. This is what HAARP was for Muse. This is Live Blackjazz from Shining