Like most folks, I listen to all sorts of Music. From Rnb to pop, rock and roll. You name it, I probably like a bit of it. But if I were to pick a favourite type of music, it would be perfectly summed up by Paddy Fox’s Sunday night show on 95bfm. Hard, fast and heavy. To me, there’s nothing like a band that can lay down some heavy riffs on tuned down guitars that make me wince with glee and wonder how that sound can possibly be achieved? Think Queens of the Stone Age, Rammstein, Alien Weaponry and Shihad.
At the moment, I’m going through a bit of a kiwi music phase. Reminiscing on old tracks from The Muttonbird’s and Dave Dobbyn that I used to sing along to strapped into my car seat as a little gremlin in the back of mum and dad’s car. But I had never listened to Shihad. I’d heard of them as most kiwis had. As they are 1st equal (alongside Hayley Westenra) in having the most top 40 New Zealand hits from a local band, I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. Listening through old tunes like My Minds Sedate and Home Again, I had realized just what I had been missing out on and quickly directed myself to their latest release Old Gods.
In short, Old gods is bloody awesome. Back to back tracks of heavy riffage from Jon Toogood and Phil Knight with powerful basslines from Karl Kippenberger and heavy yet rhythmic drum patterns from Tom Larkin, really proves why Shihad have been so successful since their formation in 1988. When listening through the album, you can pick up influences from other artists that range from Classic Rock bands such as Foo Fighters and the extreme metal band Meshuggah. Tom Larkin describes the bands writing style as a “big jam” in a documentary about the creation of the album. With the members getting together to solely focus on writing music, picking out sections from these jam sessions that eventually morph into tracks for the album. As a musician myself, I can truly tell you this is a process of trial and error. Sitting in front of your amplifier or drum kit fiddling around on your instrument, doing nothing for hours until you suddenly come up with a neat riff and bang. You have the skeleton of a song.
Jon Toogood, the band's frontman and rhythm guitarist, says “they write heavy music pretty well”. When it comes to Old Gods they definitely don't miss that mark. Toogood's summary of the album being “a big engine” is an accurate statement. With Shihad's rhythmic, melodic yet super heavy style sticking out on my personal favourite tracks Tear Down Those Names and The Hill Song. Not too dissimilar to German industrial metal band Rammstein.
One thing in particular that I love about Shihad is their professionalism. Shihad themselves are a very mature and organized band. Taking into consideration very intricate details of the production of their music, keeping their own interests in mind while also considering it from a listeners point of view. Despite this, the roots of their formation in High School are very clearly still at the forefront of their bands image. Karl Kippenberger’s description of the band starting as “Dysfunctional, Idiot Teenagers” reflects in their songwriting. While they are one of the biggest bands in New Zealand history, they are also still 4 good mates who love to play music.
I encourage you to go and listen to the album. I don’t want to spoil too many of the tracks as it is a worthy listening experience. I’m not one to normally listen to albums cover to cover but this is one of the few albums where I genuinely enjoyed each track. Old Gods as a title is also very fitting. For a band that has experienced the highest heights of fame and are self-aware of their age, their music still absolutely rocks.
Check out this video for more info on the creation of the album. Highly recommend, it's a brilliant watch.
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