Shai Hulud - Misanthropy Pure
Posted on May 27, 2008 at 8:00 am by admin
While it might surprise some people, when I think of “metalcore”, I don’t think of all the clone bands out there today. Instead of think of the years from 2004 back to 1997, back when it was just few select kids with short hair who either grew up on hardcore, but always loved metal, or who started off in metal and discovered hardcore thought the idea of putting the 2 together seemed like a cool idea. Unfortunately, today “metalcore” is more of a popular scene with a dress code that people do to fit in, and now has several styles that people use as a template to copy one another.
Throughout the whole effort, you can hear hardcore roots with quick d-beats, some melodic hardcore chords running up and down the neck, and especially lots of roaming post-hardcore arpeggios that really reminds you where a lot of our popular music today has come from. At the same time, these are influences beneath the surface that make Shai Hulud more than the sum of their parts. They’ve got quite a signature sound where the band is always playing, always roaming, and always screaming. I could’ve almost sworn “Misanthropy Pure” was a single track album, as the transitions between songs are that close to being seamless, and the energy pouring off only reinvigorates the bands conviction.
All the way from the most underground heavy and caustic forms of metalcore, to the lightest forms of radio-friendly post-hardcore (that still has underground connection), Shai Hulud is where so much of today’s music has come from. As much as I’d like to say that this is where music could go, as “Misanthropy Pure” is both cutting edge and retro at the same time, I fear many new bands might miss the point. When you listen this, whether you be a fan of From Autumn To Ashes, Thrice, As I Lay Dying, Terror, Nora, Every Time I Die, Poison The Well, The Dillinger Escape Plan or Despised Icon, don’t allow the point to become lost and simply use Shai Hulud as some sort of template, as no one has come close to actually sounding like them by copying them. Instead take the passion, the energy, the conviction, the creatively and inspiration to allow you to create a new work to keep modern music alive.
Released May 27th, 2008
Shai Hulud at MySpace
Metal Blade Records at MySpace
Buy this album at Amazon.com and Amazon.ca
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