From their EPK, "Reaching up from a yawning black metal abyss, SHINING pulls its listener down into an enthralling, inexorable darkness, showing off a surprising range of influences that vary from Prog to Classical. Formed in 1996, these Swedes typify the sometimes twisted and controversial side of dark metals, yet the continued motif of brutality and self-harm finds their fans to be legion." The album has six songs.

"Avsändare Okänd" is first. The sound eases in slowly, with a hardened riff and vocals fry, and augmented with a clean guitar passage. The atmosphere they are working on building is both depressing and angry. "Snart Är Dom Alla Borta" is next. The riff in charge is also slow, but combined with clean guitars, creates an atmosphere of both hopelessness and frustration. That guitar solo sings and weeps, and is very well done. "Allt För Döden" has some faster pacing behind it, and the structure is unbreakable. The clean vocals push a different sound, and it's like the song has two faces...a hardened black one and a lifeless white one. "Fidelis Ad Mortem" is shorter, and begins with clean guitars. The mood is very somber and despondent. The clean vocals are sung with a rhythm that amplifies the sadness in your heart, as does the guitar solo.

"Åttahundratjugo" is a short three minutes of piano, with very sober tones. "Den Permanenta Sömnen Kallar" closes the album, led by a faster and more powerful riff. This song is all about the darker side of life, the side that you want to bury. Calling this Black Metal is a pretty loose label overall, but it's probably the most succinct descriptor one can find. As most Metaheads know, the genre of Black Metal is vast and expansive. What I like most about the album is that you really can't find a round hole to put the peg in. Just when you think you have, the band moves the pegboard so that you can't dock it. This is pretty creative for a band that has been around as long as they have.