VI: Klagopsalmer

Shining was formed in Halmstad in 1996 by Niklas Kvarforth, who writes most of the music and sings, and who started the band at twelve. By fourteen he had played guitars and bass on their first EP, Submit to Selfdestruction, in 1998; he did not become the band's singer until their first album, Within Deep Dark Chambers, in 2000. The name has nothing to do with the novel The Shining or the film made from it: according to Kvarforth it means "the path to enlightenment". The music is dark, aggressive and depressive, with progressive elements and personal lyrics that often turn on suicide. The band split up in August 2004 and their fourth album, The Eerie Cold of 2005, was meant to be their last, but they reformed later that year with a line-up able to play live. Kvarforth disappeared in July 2006 and a rumour spread that he had killed himself; on 23 August the band posted a statement announcing his disappearance and said they would continue with a new singer called Ghoul, as one of his own wishes. At a concert at Diezel in Halmstad on 3 February 2007, Ghoul was revealed to be Kvarforth. The running order here is the original's as printed.