Blackjazz - Shining
User Score
7.0 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 34 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 34
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 34
  3. Negative: 7 out of 34

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  1. Even
    Nov 10, 2010
    10
    Upon first listening, I found it quite harsh. It's kind of listening to barbed wire. But then you start to "get it" and it is completely mesmerizing. It is, hands down, the best album I own, and I have been listening to quite a lot of heavy/black metal music. It is a lot more metal than jazz, but Jørgens saxophone solos here and there reminds you where he comes from. Give the album 3-4 rounds through your CD-player/mp3-playlist before you move on. I promise it is worth it.

    Favourite tracks: Madness and the damage done, Fisheye and Blackjazz death trance.

    PS: I tried giving the album a 10/10 here on Metacritic, but I keep getting a error saying that "Score (10.0) id must be a floating point number).    … Collapse

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
83 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 12 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 12
  3. Negative: 0 out of 12
  1. Alternative Press
    90
    Blackjazz, by contrast, is fierce and unrelenting, a slavering beast of an album with the complexity and dissonance of the Flying Luttenbachers and the head-down intensity of upstate New York ultra-power trio Borbetomagus.
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  2. Dusted Magazine
    70
    When Shining go technical, they do so with a flourish, but often seem too eager to return to the simpler crowd-pleasing verses and choruses that make up the meat of the album.
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  3. No Ripcord
    80
    In the case of Blackjazz, Shining spreads lyrical passages across songs, repeats song titles with different music attached: they basically create an environment that can only be understood as a whole.
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