SHINING front man and founder Niklas Kvarforth has issued the following band update:

“Guitarist Fredric Gråby has left the ranks of Shining today because he no longer felt able to continue playing. Unfortunately this means that we have been forced to cancel our appearance at the Ragnarok Festival this month as there is not enough time for a new guitarist to learn the material. We are also pleased to announce that Christian Larsson, who has been playing bass with the band for some time on a temporary basis, has now has joined Shining as a permanent full-time member.”

Shining recently confirmed that they will play a four-date tour of Finland, home to their label Spinefarm Records, in May of this year.

The tour is set to coincide with the release of their seventh full length album, VII / Född Förlorare, which in English means “Born Loser”, and which is scheduled for worldwide release on May 25th.

Dates for the Finland tour include:

May

11 - Yo-Hall, Tampere, Finland
12 - Lutakko, Jyväskylä, Finland
13 - Henry's Pub, Kuopio, Finland
14 – Nosturi, Helsinki, Finland

Shining recently debuted a track from the forthcoming album, VII / Född Förlorare. The track, 'Förtvivlan, Min Arvedel', can be heard on the band's MySpace Page.

All the music and lyrics for VII / Född Förlorare were written byNiklas Kvarforth, and the album was recorded over what the band describes as “three long years” inside the Slaughterhouse studios in Sweden, with Rickard Bengtsson once again producing.

Kvarforth himself defines the finished result as 'THE' Shining album. “It is,” he commented, “the natural successor to our fifth album V/Halmstad, rather than to our last release VI/Klagopsalmer, which I have always thought of as more of an experiment both in terms of writing and performance”.

VII / Född Förlorare includes an array of guest appearances, and here follows a track by track description of the album.

First song: 'Förtvivlan, Min Arvedel' (Despair, My Heritage) marks the start of what promises to be the darkest album in Shining’s career to date - and for a band that epitomises the exploration of darkness, the significance of that statement is self-evident. A video of the track is currently being made.

Second song: 'Tiden Läker Inga Sår' (Time Heals Nothing). As well as being tortured behind the microphone throughout most of the song, WATAIN’s Erik Danielsson makes an appearance on vocals on a track whose atmosphere is evocative of Led Zeppelin.

Third song: 'Människa O’Avskyvärda Människa' (Man Despicable Man) could perhaps be the most groovy, yet most sinister and dark song from Shining. Chris Amott of ARCH ENEMY contributes a magnificent solo on the track.

Fourth song: 'Tillsammans Är Vi Allt' (Together We Are All) sheds an entirely new light on the band with its melancholic structure and the use of a grand piano as the lead instrument. The refrain is sung by Nordman, one of Sweden’s biggest pop stars.

Fifth song: 'I Nattens Timma' (In The Night Hour). As can be expected with a Shining album, there is always one track that differs from the rest, and this is the one, with only piano, mellotron and a guest vocal appearance by Peter Bjärgö of ARCANA.

Sixth song: 'FFF' A track exploring family relationships, this is one of the most personal songs that Kvarforth has ever written.

Below is the track 'Förtvivlan, Min Arvedel' from the new album.