IV - The Eerie Cold is the 4th album released by the Swedish BM band Shining. I had never heard of these guys before, and due to a very generic name and a few other facts, I expected this latest opus to be the usual and generic raw BM album. The thing that impressed me a bit was the fact that some of the members/ex-members had played or were also currently playing in some good bands, namely Forgotten Tomb, and of course, the appearance of Hellhammer on one of the older albums (or maybe 2 or 3, i'm not sure.). The line-up for this album, though, features individuals i've never heard of before, so I expected an average BM album. Well, i'll admit it right now: If you're thinking this is average BM played in a very generic way, you're wrong.

The first song, Och Med Insikt Skall Du Forga, got me intrigued just a bit. It starts with a sad yet haunting accoustic intro, accompanied by a great bass performance, which is shortly followed by an emotional and lead which proves that the guitarist has talent. But the guys in Shining know that accoustic don't last forever - in fact, after two minutes, an up-beat raw black metal riff comes in with some piano, to keep the haunting and dark feelings lying around. This song (the whole album, in fact) doesn't lack riffwork at all and doesn't feel repetitive at all. The riffs are dark and creepy ( add whatever adjective you can that describes well-made BM), and the vocals are hateful as fuck, all this to create very desperate emotions. I can see why a member of Forgotten Tomb already played in this band, because certain parts of this remind me of Forgotten Tomb, but not as doomy of course. Every single time an accoustic or piano break is about to get boring, the guitarist decides to shake things up by adding in another raw BM riff, riff after riff. This album didn't get boring a single time. Production wise, Shining isn't in the whole have-shitty-production-to-be-cool camp, and that is of course admired by me. The whole thing sounds clean, but yet it always keeps its dark touch by keeping the music filled with clean piano and accoustic guitar breaks.

To sum all that up, Shining 4th effort is a raw and up-beat BM album filled with interesting piano breaks, desperate emotions, and all this without being repetitive once. A great album, and those who like BM with some clean production but still manages to instill emotions of despair and the likes in the listener will surely be pleased by this album.

[This review was first published on the now defunct scandinavianmetal.info webzine]