Shihad – Old Gods: Album Review

Shihad would like to kill those Old Gods. The Gods of death, war and destruction are also the Lords of the Future. Rebirth and regeneration.

Alternative-Metal merchants who took inspiration from the likes of Metallica and Slayer at their inception. The name was supposed to be Jihad, taken from David Lynch’s movie version of Dune but with an inspired spelling mistake. An institution in New Zealand and one of the most successful commercially. They keep coming back, even as the bandmembers pursue numerous other interests.

Old Gods comes seven years after their last highly regarded album FVEY

Thirty-plus years make them the Establishment. Jon Toogood singer and rhythm guitar, Tom Larkin drums, Phil Knight lead guitar and synthesisers and Karl Kippenberger bass.

Tear Down Those Names. The first four songs all have the same intro. Drums and rhythm guitar lock in and fire off like precision ordnance artillery fire. The band can conjure up a manic edge of amphetamine rush. Feels like a video wargame. The tempo is a little slower than your prototype Motorhead.

Old Gods. Repeated riff mantras. The Metal is honed and the fighter musicians are coming head on in the attack. Stood on the beaches/ The second boats landed/ Took all the names of the places you’ve stolen/ Put them in a shallow grave/ Kill these old Gods!

The band addresses liberal causes and like to have a go at Control and Corporates, but underscore it all with sly and sometimes satirical humour.

As in The Hill Song. God loves a winner/ God breaks for dinner/ God hates all you sinners! All lyrics are approximate. The song starts with the same battering ram but adds some catchy riffs and veer into Hard Pop Punk. They seem to echo an early Punk obscure cult favourite. Isgodaman? by the Snivelling Shits. Sounds like I made that up but it is there for you on Spotify.

Mink Coat. You’ve got blood on your mink coat is the anti-corporate refrain. Toogood sounds like the first wave of Punk which became New Wave. He bellows but can hit more notes than Lemmy.

The first four songs and the guys deliver the bangs for your bucks. Head-banging neck-swiveling mosh-pit Metal Blues.

Feel The Fire switches tone completely. A Power Pop ballad. There is a keening bagpipe sound in the background which must be from guitars. Of course, Fields of Fire from Big Country.

The band has the economy and drive of the Ramones. Anything superfluous or unnecessarily distracting has been polished out.

Little Demons. Taking our future/ All for a righteous cause/ Gave it to demons/ Who fanned the flames. Rage and fury from the singer, being pushed by solid rhythm guitar which is monolithic and relentless. Has a bit of the sneer of Mark E. Smith, the late leader of the Fall.

Empire Falling addresses the themes behind the title. The music builds ominously until it breaks out into a refrain of Power Pop. The Hollow Men are name-checked. The lyrics are more naïve than the Sex Pistols, but they do have a good rock’n’roll momentum.

The Wreckage. Pop Metal riffs and the music machine plays with economical precision. There is a video accompanying this tune which shows the statue of James Cook being daubed in red paint. Blood paint as on the cover.

The messages are in the current zeitgeist of the glorious present. Shihad deliver music charged with the endorphins of a body hurtling through a strange time. Their passion is to kill those Old Gods, and maybe into a brave new world.

Rev Orange Peel      

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