Blackjazz is the fifth studio album

Studio album

A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 by the Norwegian band Shining

Shining (Norwegian band)

Shining is a Norwegian band that started out as an acoustic jazz quartet in 1999. Their sound has since become more experimental and extreme, incorporating elements from metal and progressive rock as well as 19th and 20th century classical music....

, released through Indie Recordings

Indie Recordings

Indie Recordings is a Norwegian independent record label specialising in heavy metal. The label was founded in 2006 by brothers Espen and Erik Solheim Røhne, who previously founded Tabu Recordings. Indie Recordings has its headquarters in Oslo, Norway...

 on 18 January 2010.

Singles

Shining performed the world premiere of the song Fisheye live on Store Studio, a culture talk show

Talk show

A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....

 on NRK, 10 October 2009. Their performance was later released on YouTube

YouTube

YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

, and as a free mp3

MP3

MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...

 download from NRK.

An extended version of Fisheye and the single The Madness And The Damage Done were released on iTunes

ITunes

iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....

 prior to Blackjazz release. The Singles were well-received, with Fisheye named Best song of 2009 by a critic in NRK's Lydverket, and giving Shining a place on Time Out New York's list the Stars of 2010.

Music

As on Shining's two previous albums, the music draws elements from many different genres, particularly jazz and metal. The album's title, Blackjazz, is meant to describe the band's sound.

The instrumentation is far simpler than on the two previous albums, with Jørgen Munkeby focusing on guitars and saxophone. This has made the album's sound closer to how they sound live, as songs from previous albums needed to be simplified for live performances.

A big influence on Blackjazz is Shining's collaboration with Enslaved

Enslaved (band)

Enslaved is a progressive black metal band formed in June 1991 in Sveio, Norway, and currently based out of Bergen, Norway.-History:Enslaved was formed in June 1991 by Ivar Bjørnson and Grutle Kjellson when they were 13 and 17 years old, respectively. The band name was inspired by an Immortal demo...

, with whom they composed and performed a 90-minute ″Armageddon Concerto″, Nine Nights in Nothingness – Glimpses of Downfall, at Moldejazz

Moldejazz

Molde International Jazz Festival takes place annually in July, and is known as one of the oldest jazz festivals in Europe. It was initiated by the local Storyville Jazz Club...

 2008. In fact, the concerto's seventh movement is an earlier version of the song Fisheye, and a studio version of the first movement, RMGDN, is a bonus track on the vinyl edition of Blackjazz. The concerto was commissioned by Moldejazz after the programme committee saw a video of the two bands performing a cover of King Crimson's

King Crimson

King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...

 21st Century Schizoid Man

21st Century Schizoid Man

"21st Century Schizoid Man" is a song by progressive rock band King Crimson from their debut album In the Court of the Crimson King.-Personnel:* Greg Lake – Vocals, bass guitar* Ian McDonald – saxophone* Robert Fripp – guitars* Michael Giles – drums...

 on their 2007 tour. A new version of the same song forms the final track on Blackjazz, featuring guest vocals by Enslaved's Grutle Kjellson

Grutle Kjellson

Grutle Kjellson is a Norwegian vocalist and bass player for the progressive viking metal band Enslaved. He is one of only two founding members left in the current line-up with Ivar Bjørnson being the other one. He is the man who appears on the cover of Enslaved's album Eld...

.

Reception

The album was well received by critics. Notably, it was one of the few new releases ever to get a perfect five-star rating in its initial review by Allmusic, although its rating was later downgraded to four and a half stars.

Track listing

CD version

1. "The Madness and the Damage Done" – 5:20
2. "Fisheye" – 5:08
3. "Exit Sun" – 8:36
4. "Exit Sun" – 0:57
5. "HEALTER SKELTER" – 5:35
6. "The Madness and the Damage Done" – 3:24
7. "Blackjazz Deathtrance" – 10:52
8. "Omen" – 8:46
9. "21st Century Schizoid Man" – 8:41

LP version

Side A

1. "The Madness and the Damage Done" - 5

20

"Fisheye" - 5:08

"Exit Sun" - 8:36

"Exit Sun" - 0:57

NEWLIN

Side B

1. "HEALTER SKELTER" - 5

35

"The Madness and the Damage Done" - 3:24

"Blackjazz Deathtrance" - 10:52

NEWLIN

Side C

1. "Omen" - 8

46

"21st Century Schizoid Man" - 8:41

NEWLIN

Side 4

1. "Fisheye [Extended Version]" - 6

59

"RMGDN" - 12:37

NEWLIN

Musicians

• Jørgen Munkeby – Vocals, guitars, saxophone
• Torstein Lofthus
  Torstein Lofthus
  Torstein Lofthus is a Norwegian drummer. Major influence on Norwegian music through studio work, live concerts and teaching at Norwegian Academy of Music and at University of Agder . Based in Oslo, he now tours Norway and Europe with different bands and artists after finishing his master at the...
  
   – Drums
• Tor Egil Kreken – Bass
• Bernt Moen – Synths and keyboards
• Even Helte Hermansen – Guitars

• Grutle Kjellson
  Grutle Kjellson
  Grutle Kjellson is a Norwegian vocalist and bass player for the progressive viking metal band Enslaved. He is one of only two founding members left in the current line-up with Ivar Bjørnson being the other one. He is the man who appears on the cover of Enslaved's album Eld...
  
   – Guest vocals on track 8, Omen, and track 9, 21st Century Schizoid Man

Production staff

• Jørgen Munkeby – Producer
• Sean Beavan
  Sean Beavan
  Sean Beavan is a musician, record producer, and audio engineer best known for his work with Guns N Roses, Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, God Lives Underwater, and Slayer...
  
   – Mixing
• Tom Baker – Mastering

Charts

Chart (2010)	Peak position
Norwegian Albums Chart	9

Release history

Region	Date	Label	Format	Catalog
Norway Norway Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...	18 January 2010	Indie Recordings Indie Recordings Indie Recordings is a Norwegian independent record label specialising in heavy metal. The label was founded in 2006 by brothers Espen and Erik Solheim Røhne, who previously founded Tabu Recordings. Indie Recordings has its headquarters in Oslo, Norway...	CD	INDIE 045 CD
			double LP LP album The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...	INDIE 045 LP
Europe Europe Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...	25 January 2010	Indie Recordings Indie Recordings Indie Recordings is a Norwegian independent record label specialising in heavy metal. The label was founded in 2006 by brothers Espen and Erik Solheim Røhne, who previously founded Tabu Recordings. Indie Recordings has its headquarters in Oslo, Norway...	CD
United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...	2 February 2010	The End Records The End Records The End Records is an independent record label, founded in 1998 in San Diego. Founder Andreas Katsambas initially wanted to bring attention to some underground bands he admired. In 2002, The End moved to Salt Lake City, when his wife took a job at the University of Utah. The label moved...	CD