ENSLAVED To Perform At Norwegian Jazz Festival Tomorrow

July 18, 2008

Extreme metallers ENSLAVED and the Norwegian progressive/experimental rock band SHINING will take the stage at the Moldejazz (Molde International Jazz Festival) festival in Norway tomorrow (Saturday, July 19) for a very special collaboration. Drawing inspiration from old Norse mythology, doomsday cults, science fiction, prog and jazz, the two bands will join forces to present the "Armageddon Concerto."

UK's Terrorizer magazine hooked up with ENSLAVED's Ivar Bjørnson to find out just how this partnership came about. An excerpt from the chat follows.

Terrorizer: Jazz? Eh? How did it come about?

Ivar: "We have been into SHINING for quite a few years now, before we knew the guys at all. We almost bumped into them on a few occasions; I remember we were mixing in one end of the studio while they were recording in the other half during 'Ruun' in early 2006. Then I think Grutle (Kjellson, bass and vocals) was the one to make it to one of their Bergen concerts — he elbowed his way to their backstage, drank their beer and the connection was established. Then we met on several occasions and talked about doing something together, both bands being fans of the other. We found a chance do this with adding SHINING to our 'Ruun European Tour Part II' in the fall of 2007. On that tour we ended up concluding SHINING's set with both bands playing a cover of KING CRIMSON's '21st Century Schizoid Man'. This cover version got on YouTube and all of a sudden we had Molde International Jazz Festival on the line wanting the two bands to do the 2008 commissioned piece — ending the festival with some total and utter doom."

Terrorizer: So this isn't the Kvarforth SHINING? Have many made that mistake? Bet you're glad it's not "that" SHINING — they get into lots of trouble wherever they go!

Ivar: "Yeah, I know Kvarforth is a hot name (he'll like that statement) so no wonder there would be some confusion. But in Norway the 'other' SHINING is more well known, I guess. After the aforementioned tour I think people are used to us talking about SHINING — meaning the saxophone SHINING, not razor SHINING. Having said that, it needs to be mentioned that razor SHINING is brilliant too, but in a different way (ha ha). What a weird thing to have these two bands that are close geographically and scene-wise. Then again, they are two of the most unique and original bands on the scene, actually so original and different from each other and everything else that they could get away with having the same name."

ENSLAVED and SHINING performing KING CRIMSON's "21st Century Schizoid Man" in Germany:

Find more on

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).