While sharpening your pocketknife with a whetstone, depressive thoughts run through your mind. Your life is Hell. At the age of three the neighbour`s hairy dog raped you, and when aged five you couldn’t get the pink soft toy rabbit that ALL your friends already got last Christmas. When aged ten, you accidentally electrocuted your grandma, and at the age of 16 you got some weird skin disease, which caused you to be bullied by your schoolmates. At 18 you murdered your parents through some strange bacteria that were created by the miserable miasma coming from your room.
For several years while all alone, you wandered around through the city nightlife, where drugged, raped, and wounded, you survived in the gutters. Then, at the age of 23, you decide that it is all been enough, and that the world would have more oxygen without you. With your knife firmly in your hand, you begin cutting yourself open… You drop to the ground; you never could stand the smell of blood!
You awaken in a white and sterile sanatorium and Hell starts all over!

The Swedish black metal band Shining was founded in 1996 by Kvarforth. According to the Metal Archives, vocalist Kvarforth was only 12 years old then! (handling guitars and bass). Something that’s hard to believe (he also already owned his own label Selbstmord Services in 1998) but not impossible.
After massive line-up changes (even the inclusion of Hellhammer on the fourth album), Shining now consists of Kvarforth (vocals and keyboards), Ludvig Witt (drums), Gråby (lead guitars), Huss (rhythm guitars), and Phil A. Cirone (bass and keyboards).

I can only compare this fifth album with Shining`s debut album: Within Deep Dark Chambers (2000), since that’s the only one I know.

Although both albums focus on generating a feeling of depression, they differ quite a lot: Their debut album is mid-tempo atmospheric black metal, with some elements of (fast) Burzum, Frozen Shadows, Xasthur, or Krohm. (Side note: Since black metal is SUPPOSED to be depressive and hateful, it is somewhat strange to label your band this way to set yourself aside from the genre and say you created a whole new niche). While this album V is a lot less black metal, combining different rock/metal styles to establish the same suicidal emotions.

The vocals are used in different ways to, probably, put more emotions into the songs, but to me this shouting sound is quite annoying (even after many a listening). Guitars and drums are well played and even the bass guitar fits nicely into place. The album is quite varied, by the use of pace and song structure changes, weird vocals, acoustic guitars, piano, depressed female spoken parts, and rain samples. Not black metal anymore, but atmospheric metal with a black metal, suicidal, feeling.
The album has had a good production; all instruments are clearly audible and in harmony.
I recognize a lot of elements that I have sometimes heard before, from a whole range of bands. Examples are: Diabolicum-like guitar solos, Pink Floyd noises, Stormblast pianos, and many others I can`t remember.

Even though not all parts of this album are interesting and not all parts can be called their own creation, Shining is an experimental and somewhat innovative band that knows how to build varied songs and a depressive atmosphere.