All music and lyrics written by Niklas Kvarforth 1996 - 2000.
Yeah, I know that we’re pretty late with a feature on these guys, but right around the time, when I first got to hear a song from SHINING’s latest album “Shining III – Angst” (which quickly resulted in the fact that I wanted to hear more), Laurent of Belgium’s Painkiller Records included a promo copy of the band’s debut album “Within Deep Dark Chambers” in a package he had mailed over to me (thanx mate!). Of course I can’t tell you if SHINING still sound exactly like this today (as two more full length albums have already been released ever since), but that doesn’t mean that we should ignore this album here. Its quality is undeniable and therefore still deserves your attention! “Within Deep Dark Chambers” came out back in 2000 and only features six songs, but each of rather long individual playing time (approximately between seven and eleven minutes). Musically SHINING pick up the pieces of the totally commercialized Norwegian Black Metal underground and carry on with its basic elements, but not without adding their own unique note to it. Cold, mean, aggressive, suicidal, depressive, melancholic, destructive are words that come to my mind when I listen to this early material. Even though the band is located in Sweden, their overall musical style still has a very “Norwegian” touch to it (especially in the faster parts), yet they’re always remaining original in the songwriting department. The vocals are mainly of the shrieky, hysterical type and come across in a rather tortured sounding manner, which fits SHINING’s raw material pretty good. So, all in all this is definitely a very promising debut, recommended to all worshippers of the raw Scandinavian Black Metal movement. And instead of feeding my personal hunger for more SHINING material, it ended up making me even more curious about the stuff which was about to follow.
Track 3 is Latin for "Detestable Life" and it's a verse taken from the medieval Goliardic poem "O Fortuna".
Track 4 is Swedish for "Pure Fucking Angst".
"Within Deep Dark Chambers" is a one of the most important albums for the so-called depressive-suicidal black metal, or DSBM. This genre had a quite long period of formation. The likes of Burzum, Strid and Bethlehem introduced the very first seeds of it in the early-mid 90s. There was no term "DSBM" or whatsoever back then, there were some proto-elements of the future genre. In the late 90s there were more of them, including the first official release of Shining, which was the EP "Submit to Selfdestruction", and in the early 2000s the first full-length albums of Shining alongside with the album of Silencer put the last hatch on the developing sound. Niklas Kvarforth, the leader of Shining, popularized the term "depressive-suicidal black metal" pretty much by calling the early works of Shining this way. "Within Deep Dark Chambers" is the debut full-length album of the band. It's an eclectic work, which puts together all the needed ingredients and gives a clear definition to DSBM.
The music of "Within Deep Dark Chambers" is majorly rooted in the most oppressive Burzum's outings, like compositions "Black Spell Of Destruction" and "En Ring Til Aa Herske", like albums "Hvis Lyset Tar Os" and "Filosofem". It is also highly influenced by "Dark Metal" album by Bethlehem. It's interesting to note here, that Andreas Classen performs the vocals on "Within Deep Dark Chambers" alongside with Kvarforth. Classen was the vocalist on the mentioned album of Bethlehem. Ironically, he took part in recording with the musicians, to whom he was a one of the idols. As the result, stylistically "Within Deep Dark Chambers" is raw and monotonous black metal, which is mid- or low-paced for the most of the occasions. The characteristic distorted black metal tremolo riffing provides the basis for the album. Sometimes the atmospheric keyboards powder the monotonous and distorted riffing.
So, generally it's a quite exemplary piece of black metal performed in the sluggish manner of Bethlehem of its debut full-length album. The vocals are high-pitched screaming, which will become common for DSBM, but here it's not in its most piercing form. Actually, it's not even always easy to determine, where Kvarforth performs the vocals and where Classen does it. Their manners are similar for the reason, as Shining is a Bethlehem influenced band. Still it seems, that Classen's performance is that one, which is closer to the traditional way of screaming and which is mixed with some growling. While Kvarforth's performance is a one, which is more high-pitched and desperate. The good thing is the fact, that the vocals of both musicians sound as if their belong to a single person, because it underlines the integrity of the album. Yes, the album is holistic. That's logical, acknowledging how monotonous the music of it is. Anyway, "Within Deep Dark Chambers" has some highlights and they are right in the mid-point of it, making a culmination. "Vita Detestabilis" overall is the fastest composition of the record and closer to its end the tempo slows down in a spectacular fashion. The low-paced passage, which is put there, sounds especially sinister and grim. It sounds purely Bethlehem-esque. After it the tempo rises in a no less spectacular way. Then there goes "Ren djävla ångest", which is just the most depressive composition of the album. Its melodies are filled with sorrow and pain, while the vocals are the most desperate there.
The music of "Within Deep Dark Chambers" is oppressive and poisonous. Link it particularly with depression or not, but, overall, the atmosphere of the album represents the negativity. It represents the uselessness of the being, it shows the existence as a burden, it opens the view on everything through the prism of pale colors. It's not highly expressive, but its utterly dark and encumbering. The cover is so descriptive here. Listening to this album is like going through the depicted corridor. While the music makes a feel, that the corridor looks narrowing not only from the distance. It makes such an oppressive atmosphere, that it feels, like the corridor is literally becoming gradually smaller with the walls squashing you. This makes "Within Deep Dark Chambers" specific. The music of the album is firm like the funeral march. It represents the idea of the band. Shining epitomizes a path to death. It's a measured and gradual immersion into darkness.
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