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Shining - "Last Day" (Video Premiere)

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Norway’s Shining have taken some risks in the course of their career, what with the mix of jazz, prog and industrial metal and whatnot, but in terms of life and limb, this is the riskiest. I can’t even watch the video for “Last Day” without getting on edge.

Earlier this year, the band made internet waves by filming a live show at Trolltunga, an outcropping over a Norwegian fjord. We ran an interview with the band’s main songwriter, Jorgen Munkeby, shortly thereafter. Now we are proud to present a full video of the band performing “Last Day” from their new album, International Blackjazz Society live at the cliff.

I don’t have acrophobia, a fear of heights, but this video instilled that fear in me. When Munkeby reaches for his saxophone I feel tremendous discomfort. French philosopher Sartre said that a fear of heights is, in actuality, a fear of man’s own desire to throw himself off cliffs: a fear of suicide. At the very least, Shining make being with them at Trolltunga seem inviting, X-Games style tangents aside.

“Last Day” is the most straightforward song on International Blackjazz Society. The rest of the record marries the more progressive side of Blackjazz with the singles-driven approach of tis followup, One One One. International Blackjazz Society is available from Spinefarm Records on October 23. Follow Shining on Facebook Twitter at @SHININGofficial and Instagram at @shiningnorway.

—Joseph Schafer