RE-OPENING OLD WOUNDS (Shining Biography) - BOOK ONE (PREORDER)

NB! This is a preorder item - Expected in stock around September 20th 2026

After seventeen years in the making, it is finally here!

Re-Opening Old Wounds tells the story of how Niklas Kvarforth, born in Sweden, started his band SHINING one hot summer's evening in 1996. In painful detail, Kvarforth reveals the uncensored filth and violence that ensued, propelling the originators of suicidal black metal into the commercial spotlight before their inevitable downfall.

Divided into two equally lengthy parts, Book One is now available in a beautiful 14 x 21 cm hardback edition.

Limited to 2,000 copies.

the first book focuses on the years 1996-2008 

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"Black and white! No greyzones (or any rainbow colours for that matter haha), cold hard honest truth down to the bone! That’s how I like my books! Kvarforth made it just like that."
- Hellhammer (Mayhem)

"Re-opening old wounds" is a tour de force of everything that was, and still is, the chaos of Niklas Kvarforth. Not shying away from the ugly reality of life on the road, studios and the general filth of being a creative force burning bright in the fires of chaos and disease, the book does not hold back. Take a glimpse into the abyss and hope it does not look back at you.”
- Henrik Nordvargr Björkk (MZ.412)

"I had the pleasure of meeting Kvarforth during the Malfeitor days; we shared the stage as support for Shining in Italy. I hope this book will be enlightening for the new generations and for all those who never had the chance to meet them in real life. I was fortunate enough to be exposed to one of the most disturbing and artistically sincerely obscure bands in the entire global music scene. I'll never forget when Niklas showed up on stage with a huge black heart painted on his back with my name in the center, while pouring his own piss over himself".
- Fabban (Aborym / Malfeitor)

“To crawl inside this brain while listening to the songs and albums referred to in the book makes you wonder what kind of poison you are left with once the journey ends. I found myself losing orientation while reading – not because there is no blood red thread, but because there are too many impressions for the mind to avoid or defend against. Especially when the music accompanies the words. Grey concrete has never been my domain. I linger elsewhere, far from scenes and movements. Early so called Black Metal already gave me what I needed, so I turned away from those attempting to follow similar paths. Shining became one of the reasons I kept my distance from what was called the Stockholm scene. Niklas seems like a shattered vessel mended the wrong way, or a puzzle assembled with the pieces forced into the wrong places. Niklas – the monkey who taught the other monkeys. Hardness, sadness, madness. A voice of a true Shatanae. If I were a human flesh-eating Jew, I would gladly open the door for these blood tunes. The most cursed man to ever crawl and bleed as an image of God? At times I want to kiss him for what this art represents – and at other times strike against it. It awakens something in me – that is life-giving. Dizzying, provoking envy in the way it manages to express what many cannot. I have never really liked this man, and after having contact I still don’t. But the phenomenon he created is Not Of This World. This surreal and unsettling manifesto pulls the reader into a place where broken musicians burn for an art I may never fully understand. Shining seem to not belong here – and maybe that is exactly why this work had to exist.”
- Graav (Armagedda)

"In ‘Re-opening Old Wounds’, Niklas Kvarforth details with uncompromising and no doubt enemy-sustaining/making and occasionally-self-critical honesty, an utterly singular and deeply-faceted life-path of genuine experiential and artistic extremism; one consciously instigated no less, when he was still deemed a child by any given ‘nation-state’ of the putrid West. It will be near-on impossible for the majority of uninvolved readers to comprehend most, if not all of the varyingly-derived/intentioned and often violent ordeals, manipulative deeds, chaotic happenings, physical injuries and psychological/emotional upheavals described throughout. Yet; and as human nature dictates through its primal attachment to and conscious obsession with the Shadow-Self emerging through others, they (haters and supporters alike) will be absolutely captivated nonetheless - such is the desperately-miserable, unaffectedly-sinister, often-hedonistic and degenerate, occasionally-hilarious (in my personal opinion), underlyingly-occultist/spiritual (through Kvarforth’s personal observations of what can be loosely-termed as (the) ‘supernatural’ and of presenced ‘dark energies’), sporadically-regretful but overarchingly-ghastly and certainly-dichotomic nature of the content and the perhaps ironically-accessible way in which Kvarforth succulently conveys it all through the English language. Fundamentally, SHINING is the grotesquely-inspired vessel through which all of these experiential manifestations were and are channelled and as such, there will never be another ‘band’ as real; as notorious; as dangerously-influential and as divisive within the 21st century ‘black metal scene’.  
- The Left Hand In Blood (Sentiessence)

"Very interesting to read! Also a very interesting (and sometimes rather disturbing) insight into the abysses of Niklas' mind."
- Victor Bullock (Triptykon / Celtic Frost)

For nearly three decades, Shining has stood as one of the most influential and uncompromising forces in extreme music, reshaping the boundaries of black metal through emotional depth, artistic audacity, and unflinching honesty. Through triumph, controversy, and personal turmoil, Kvarforth forged a body of work that challenged conventions and inspired countless artists to explore the darker, more introspective corners of human existence. This autobiography offers a rare glimpse behind the veil, revealing the experiences, sacrifices, and obsessions that gave birth to a legacy that continues to resonate across generations. Dark, intimate, and profoundly human, Re-Opening Old Wounds serves not only as a chronicle of a remarkable journey but also as a reminder of the lasting cultural and artistic significance of Shining and Kvarforth. Some wounds never truly heal; they become art, and through art, they become immortal.
– Philip Dellas (Wothrosch)

“Few figures in underground music have cultivated a mythology as dense and unnerving as Niklas Kvarforth. This biography pulls back the curtain on a life that reads less like a chronicle and more like dark fiction. The stories gathered here are compelling, beautifully rendered, and at times genuinely provocative — a portrait as elusive and singular as the man himself.”
- Claudio Marino

"There are some corners of the world that were meant to remain in darkness. It is exactly those that Niklas, for as long as i've known him, have been eager to creep into and explore, eagerly, with his shining torch. This book is a great example of that. With our general wellbeing in mind, the unparalleled story of Shining is probably best buried in a nameless grave somewhere. And that is probably also why this abomination is now instead officially published, so that all may partake in it, and despair. Say what you will about its contents, but you will never read anything quite like it."
- Erik Danielsson (Watain)