Shining - Lots of Girls Gonna Get Hurt
Another day, another download-only stopgap EP. I’m going to avoid a rant on why this concept is gayer than Elton John tossing Pedro from The Real World’s dead salad because I don’t give that much of a fuck about Shining. Their brand of Depressive Black Metal has never been anywhere near depressing enough for yours truly, and the more interviews with Niklas Kvarforth I read, the more he seems like Sweden’s answer to The Situation. The only reason I’m acknowledging this all-covers EP is because they do a Katatonia song. Covering a Katatonia tune is a double-edged sword. Sure it shows you have impeccable taste, but there’s no way anyone’s going to match, let alone improve, the work of the melancholy masters. In the case of Shining, it lets me know that, while inept at creating it, they’re at least aware of how suicidal music is supposed to sound. At the same time, Kvarforth has simply embarrassed himself by trying to walk a mile in Jonas Renkse’s big boy shoes. Perhaps the opening anthem “For My Demons” from 1999’s classic Tonight’s Decision wasn’t the wisest choice. This was the second Katatonia full-length to feature all-clean vocals, and even though Renkse was still finding himself as a singer at the time, he was already on a level Kvarforth will never see. Musically, the band does an adequate job, but the end result is nonessential nevertheless. The other three covers are of bands I’ve never heard (Kent, Imperiet, Poets of the Fall), so I’m unable to compare them to the originals, but it’s all somewhat similar-sounding in a Folkish, Poppy way. The Kent and Imperiet selections are both cleanly sung in Scandinavian which sounds really fucking goofy to me. Not sure if that’s due to Kvarforth’s minor league delivery —just listen to him stumble through that Psychedelic Furs attempt on “Kung Av Jidder”— or me being a stupid American, but either way I’m not on board. Grading on the Shining-cover curve, I’m guessing that Poets of the Fall might be pretty good. If this EP has done anything, it’s made me want to check them out. As an appetizer for a forthcoming Shining LP… lots of albums not gonna get bought.
(2) Comment(s)
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Koji Kabuto said:
This actually is available on CD, but who gives a shit?
Jon Konrath said:
You should probably just start mentioning when something is available on CD and not download - it would save a lot of work.
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