History Music / ShiningNorway

The band's first major transformation came with 2005's ''In the Kingdom of Kitsch You Will Be a Monster'' (named after a line from Milan Kundera's ''Literature/TheUnbearableLightnessOfBeing'', later [[PrematureEncapsulation reused for a song title on their next album]]). On this album, they introduced vocals, electric guitars and, on some songs, heavy metal riffs. The style and instrumentation between songs varied widely, and the album is generally categorised as jazz fusion, ProgressiveRock, and/or AvantGardeMusic. It is their last album with their original lineup before they became a RevolvingDoorBand, and it is considered their commerical and artistic breakthrough. Its successor ''Grindstone'' (2007) continued in a similar style, but it is usually considered an EvenBetterSequel and something of a refinement of this style (despite also being even more avant-garde than its predecessor).

* LongTitle: They have quite a few of these. "Where Do You Go Christmas Eve?", "Herbert West - Reanimator / After the Rain", ''In the Kingdom of Kitsch You Will Be a Monster'', "31=300=20 (It Is by Will Alone I Set My Mind in Motion)", and "To Be Proud of Crystal Colors Is to Live Again" particularly stand out.

* ShoutOut: In addition to all the [[TitledAfterTheSong music]], [[LiteraryAllusionTitle literature, and film references]] in their song titles, their logo in the ''Blackjazz'' era, with the inverted N, is a visual homage to Music/NineInchNails, a major influence on their sound ever since. (They have also worked with several members of Nine Inch Nails' ProductionPosse such as Tom Baker [[[NamesTheSame not that]] Creator/TomBaker] and Sean Beavan.)

* NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly: See GenreBusting above. They incorporate elements of {{jazz}}, modern {{classical music}}, [[AvantGardeMusic avant-garde music]], {{progressive rock}}, {{industrial metal}}, {{black metal}}, {{electronic music}}, {{alternative metal}}...

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: They have covered everywhere from 1 to 11, with the heaviest parts of "21st Century Schizoid Man" representing one case where they reached 11. Most of ''Blackjazz'' is a 10. ''In the Kingdom of Kitsch'' and ''Grindstone'' cover anywhere from 1 to about a 7 or 8.

* WordSaladTitle: An awful lot of them. Probably only Munkeby knows what "To Be Proud of Crystal Colors Is to Live Again" ''actually means''. Even some of the ones that are allusions to other works still contain word salad - and for that matter, some of them were word salad in the original works.

** "31=300=20 (It Is by Will Alone I Set My Mind in Motion)" is named after a Mentat mantra from Creator/DavidLynch's [[Film/{{Dune}} film]] of Creator/FrankHerbert's ''Literature/{{Dune}}'' (contrary to popular belief, the mantra did not actually appear in Herbert's novels, though it is somewhat similar to the popular "Fear is the mind-killer" speech - which also appears in the film).

* 2015 - ''InternationalBlackjazzSociety''

** ''Sweet Shanghai Devil'': "Herbert West - Reanimator / After the Run" (9:18)

** "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" is named after a [[Literature/JonathanLivingstonSeagull novel of the same name]].

** "Asa Nisi Masa" is a gibberish phrase from the film ''Film/EightAndAHalf''. A fellow orphan tells the main character as a child that uttering this phrase will bring a certain portrait to life and reveal a secret treasure hidden in the orphanage.

*** The CD and vinyl editions have different track lengths for several reasons: different track orders, excision of studio chatter, and trimming of "Fisheye" and "21st Century Schizoid Man", though the missing material from the latter was mostly feedback ("RMGDN" is also missing from both editions, and the CD also doesn't have "Omen", despite it being in the middle of a fairly lengthy continuous suite of songs). As a result, the songs that qualify (on either version) are: "Omen" (8:54), "Winterreise" (6:13), "Exit Sun" (9:35), "Healter Skelter" (6:35), "21st Century Schizoid Man" (11:57). It's not clear why "Omen" was left off the CD edition, as it would've fit. (In fact, they could've just removed "RMGDN" from the DVD's playlist and fit the rest of the songs on one CD without any editing at all; it would've come out to 76:24. The maximum capacity of a CD is just under 79:58. It's possible they wanted the excised content to be bonus material for the DVD [and vinyl in the case of "Omen"].) Both these versions also slightly alter the song order (it's "The Madness and the Damage Done", then "Fisheye" on the DVD; they're swapped on the CD/vinyl), again for unknown reasons.