Shihad are busting skulls and taking names with new album 'Old Gods'

Shihad are a band that demands to be heard, and let’s put it this way – they aren’t known for their ability to sit still and do as they’re told. Fortunately, there tends to be a hell of a lot of people willing to shut up and listen to the act’s oft-charged and volatile social political commentary. And luckily for us, the time to shut up and listen has once again come, with Shihad announcing a brand new album, Old Gods, set for release Friday, 27th August.

The spark that lights the flame is the first track to be boosted from the record, high-voltage cut ‘Tear Down Those Names’. The track is unapologetically pissed off, but falls short of being manic, sticking to a point that’s well-articulated and masterfully punctuated with the same notes of hard rock that have had Shihad fans coming back for more since 1996.

The band’s vocalist Jon Toogood recently experienced a whole world of change as a new father and husband, a perspective made all the more fresh with his recent conversion to Islam. He speaks to the message behind the track and album in light of recent times: “My whole consciousness changed. I haven’t been able to see the world like I used to. And all of this was feeding into, oh right, we’ve written the soundtrack, and this is what I’m going to talk about. I’m going to talk about the fact that I don’t want a future where white supremacy reigns supreme, especially with my bi-racial children. I don’t want to see leaders like Trump hold sway over a big portion of the population on the planet. Cos it’s not gonna end well.”

“I know it’s just rock’n’roll at the end of the day, but it’s my artform, and I’ve got a really fucking powerful band to play with, making powerful music, so I’m going to write about that shit,” he adds.

Shihad will be taking their show on the road post-release, sharing a run of headlining Australian tour dates we hope and pray will not need to be rescheduled.