This is RIO of the highest caliber, strongly performed, well-considered, and fastidiously produced. This is a band that cares about things like correct guitar tone, modifications on drum mic placement, carefully picked synths and samples. This is a band that knows how to play their instruments, but also how to make us care.  Full text...

The music is too heavy for jazz fans, too arty for metal fans and too structured—and at times gorgeous—for avant-garde enthusiasts.  Full text...

Last time, the hyperactive Norwegian quartet located a smoky Blue Note wrangle. That's here too, along with other signature Shining ingredients (crushing metal riffs, jazzy skronk bleats, dime-splitting time changes), but they also bring some Switched-On Bach and plenty of crystalline, near silence.  Full text...

Grindstone, in fact, is strikingly unnatural, making the line between Shining as preposterous, pretentious shit and Shining as preposterous, bulls-in-a-china-shop innovators a thin and ultimately personal one.   Full text...

As impressive as their imaginations and technical abilities are, Shining clearly enjoy basking in alienating narcissism, and with that said, they’ve made exactly the album they set out to make. Whether or not you’ll want to listen to it, perhaps the best thing to say is: Job well done.  Full text...