'Shining Black' is a new formation born from the meeting of two seasoned artists of the metal world, the singer 'Mark Boals' ('Yngwie Malmsteen' , 'Royal Hunt', 'Iron Mask', 'Ring Of Fire') and guitarist 'Ölaf Thorsen' ('Labyrinth') who have always wanted to work together and so it's done with this first album of the name of the project. By the way, the rest of the line up is all part of 'Labyrinth', keyboardist 'Oleg Smirnoff', bassist 'Nik Mazzucconi' and drummer 'Matt Peruzzi', but it would be very reductive to limit 'Shining Black' to a pale copy of 'Labryrinth' because this new project is more focused on accessible melodic metal in a moderate style while remaining powerful, the keyboards playing an important role and the guitar riffs often being there to set the tempo.
It is this feeling that dominates from the opening title 'The House Of The Fallen Souls' with a first melody that immediately hooks and with a first beautiful vocal performance of 'Mark Boals' whose style goes perfectly with this kind of compositions. With 'Boogeyman', the tempos accelerates slightly but remains very measured with a new very classical but very effective melody and with a remarkable guitar solo by 'Ölaf Thorsen', then, 'My Life', with a faster tempo, continues in the same atmosphere as its predecessor. The first power ballad break is brought by a remarkable 'A Sad Song' with a quicker central part, then, the eponymous title of the project continues in a melodic mid-tempo reminiscent of the melodic lines of the 80s, just like 'Just Another Day 'which is in the same register with a heady chorus. The end of the album scrolls through unstoppable melodies with an energetic 'Where Are Your Gods', the catchy 'The Caroussel', the second ballad 'The Day We Said Goodbye' just as remarkable as the first and to add to the best metal ballads and finally a classic but nevertheless very effective 'The Fall'.
In summary, even if it does not revolutionize melodic metal, 'Shining Black' is a very pleasant album to listen to and the duo 'Mark Boals' / 'Ölaf Thorsen' offers us a new project which should be good welcomed by all lovers of a classic melodic metal which is born at the end of the 70s... | |
