Much like its stark cover art implies, Shining is a cold album in a bright setting. The deathly doom metal of Swallow the Sun used to be offset with moments of cold beauty and increasingly pop oriented vocal lines, that still managed to feel like a fresh breath visible in the chill air. This has been turned on its head on Shining, a move that in hindsight was well telegraphed over the last two albums the band put out. Guitarist/songwriter Juha Raivio has stated in a recent interview that his approach to writing music is entirely intuition-based, not writing anything for long stretches of time and then pouring it all out when the pressure builds up. Coupled with the tragic fact that his partner, Aleah Starbridge, passed away in 2016, there has been a very real and raw outpouring of grief hanging over the last two Swallow the Sun albums. The feel of Shining‘s icy brightness stems from Raivio trying to lift himself up and this is great news. With that said, I have had trouble getting into a Swallow the Sun album since after Emerald Forest and the Blackbird and with Shining leaning into the band’s poppiest aspects of their sound by working with producer Dan Lancaster ( whose credits include working with Blink-182, Bring Me the Horizon and Muse among others), this seems like it won’t change much. In stark contrast to the great spin-off band Hallatar, and its fragile yet morbid air of death and grief, Swallow the Sun have drifted without a solid direction for the last five years.
Giving Shining a fair shot, however, I have eventually found things about it that I enjoy. For one, the chilling air of beauty has impact whenever it shows up. It takes form in moments where the piano gets to lead accompanied by the contemplative bass (“Velvet Chains”) or when an inspired lead guitar moans its sorrow along a well written vocal line (“Under the Moon & Sun”). A uniquely bright solo lights up “Khold”, which captures the gloom Swallow the Sun used to create so well, and occasionally Mikko Kotamäki‘s massive roars and shrieks show up to provide the contrast the music is desperately calling for. But the best case that Shining manages to make for this iteration of the Swallow of the Sun sound lies in “November Dust”. The song starts out with an echoing harpsichord before launching into a now familiar dirge. However, in its proceeding calm moments, Kotamäki serves up an inspired and dejected vocal line that swings back and forth between sickeningly depressive post punk and a medicated happiness that feels like something new for this band. It’s a hint of an evolution that could serve this band well right now.
Shining is never an outright bad album. I love hearing bands experimenting with their sound, something that Raivio stresses is important to him if you watched that interview. But that is at the same time why Shining is a disappointing album to me, in a string of similar albums. Swallow the Sun needs a much harder push into the unexpected to feel vital again. Many of the songs on this album only reach into pop refrains, its largest new addition. All of these moments are dwarfed by songs that have already come before and done it better, like “Cathedral Walls”, “New Moon” and “The Crimson Crown”. None of the songs are truly memorable past their poor attempts at being catchy (“MelancHoly”). I don’t need to answer the question about who this album is for, it’s clear that Raivio need his creative outlet. But “who will like it?” — that is a harder question. Of course, unquestioning fans will gobble it up, but fans of lighter or beautiful pop music will have a hard time accepting Kotamäki‘s death roars and Juuto Raatikainen‘s double-kicking drums. Long time fans of albums up until Songs From the North will have a hard time swallowing the pop. Me? I don’t object to bands that journey into things that are different. After all, when Voices switched from their extreme blackened death metal of London to the deranged post punk album of Frightened, I was all aboard. Swallow the Sun have not made the transition successfully, however. They are trying too much to stay the same to make their experiments worthwhile. But change requires giving in to the direction you are going in. It takes much will and effort to shine after being buried in the darkness for so long.
