Shining

Norway’s Shining have spent more than two decades refusing to follow a straight line. Led by saxophonist, singer, composer and producer Jørgen Munkeby, the band began as an acoustic jazz quartet before repeatedly and deliberately mutating into new musical forms. Every time the world thinks it has them figured out, they change again. That transformation erupted in full force on 2010’s genre-defining and genre-defying Blackjazz, which fused the volatility of free jazz with blackened industrial metal to create a ferocious new musical monster. Shining sharpened their attack on One One One (2013), pushed the Blackjazz sound to a deafening climax with International Blackjazz Society (2015), then reinvented themselves once again with the hook-driven modern rock of Animal (2018). Its title track has surpassed 13 million Spotify streams, while the album increased the band’s monthly listenership tenfold. Now comes NORTH: a salute to the ice-cold North, its darkness, its harsh winters and the defiance of those shaped by them. Distorted screams, punishing riffs and a huge, immediate chorus collide with a distinctive Nordic saxophone riff—built around a raised fourth and lowered seventh—that will freeze your blood to ice. NORTH is the first taste of Shining’s forthcoming album, NORTH // SOUTH, arriving fall 2026. Still restless. Still fearless. Forever rebels.