Shai Hulud - That Within Blood Ill-Tempered

"Rest assured, this is sincere, this is true!" That Within Blood Ill-Tempered has been one of this year's more highly anticipated albums for me, ever since having a friend convert me to Hulud-ness in late 2002. Over the years the former Floridian (now NY based) band has seen more line-up changes than Michael Jackson's face, but luckily has still managed to keep their sound relatively the same. Case-in-point: New Found Glory guitarist Chad Gilbert was the singer for Shai Hulud on their 1997 debut album Hearts Once Nourished with Hope and Compassion. Didn't' know that now did you? I'm going to flat out say that I think Shai Hulud has the coolest lyrics of any hard-core band I've ever heard. I can sit and read their entire liner notes without boredom setting in, and to give you a taste of what I mean, I quote: "If a human's nature is to war, this song is a battleground!", taken from my favorite song, "This Song: For the True and Passionate Lovers of Music". Just as strong lyrically, the album opener "Scornful of the Motives and Virtue of Others", kicks off the album quite well (and features the lyrical line that begins this review). My only complaints with this album is that there are points where a song will get a little stagnant, and sometimes the songs seem to sort of blend together. Fortunately this doesn't happen that often and doesn't really detract from the quality of the album, but it was noticeable. Strange as it may sound, while most of the songs on the album are great, the album as a whole falls slightly short of that status. I can't really describe why, maybe it is just the arrangement of the tracks or the previously mentioned fact that the songs can begin to sound repetitive, but I think once the band finds a way to throw a little more variety into their songs, they will be putting out 5.0 albums (hopefully less than 6 years apart). I recommend you go buy That Within Blood Ill-Tempered. It has amazing lyrics, great guitar work, throat searing screams, and at the same time the band manages to do it all in an original fashion. It is refreshing to see a band in the hard-core scene that's doing something a little different. [www.hulud.com]