Shai Hulud's "Hearts once nourished with Hope and Compassion" turns 25

Not a tear for those of flesh

Not a stayed hand for a world that prostitutes itself.

Not a minute more of degeneration.

Words cannot express my disappointment.

Words cannot express my disapproval.

So I hate.

I hate a world that's capable of triumph.

Do I stand idly by and let this world disintegrate.

This world will pass away, and my emotions with it.

Why should I strive for acceptance and peace of mind.

A Profound Hatred of Man

While first discovering SHAI HULUD and this album, 16-year-old me was singing along to those lines without thinking too much about it. But as I recognized, the older I get, the more relvance those lyrics are attaining.

Formed in 1995 in the then vital HC-scene of Florida, SHAI HULUD was the brainchild of Matt Fox. Their line-up changed a lot over the course of the last 27 years, but Fox saw all of it, followed by Matt Fletcher who joined HULUD in 1998. In terms of style, SHAI HULUD were a different kind of breed back then and I always wonder how I could get into them so much, still being way to green in HC/Punk. Their music wasn't made for the masses and I could understand anyone and everyone who wasn't able to make them their cup of tea. Fox, and probably some of his companions along the way, loves Science-Fiction, he adores IRON MAIDEN just as much as he adores PROPAGANDHI. And you could feel this diverse culture taste in their music. The songwriting was totally nuts, with all those different parts, all the breaks, rhythm and pace changes, the short mosh parts or hopeful melodies throw-in as well as the seemingly out of place straight Punk-rhythms (the one's where it's time for the circle pit). But somehow it turned out to be pure magic and "Hearts once nourished with Hope and Compassion" was there to prove it. Its opener "Solely concentrating on the Negative Aspects of Life" still remains my favourite song of theirs and that is due to the terrific flow of the song, despite all those time signature changes taking place and all the different parts being melted. I loved this "one-way"-approach of writing songs and back in the days of me discovering HC/Punk it was something completeley new. 

SHAI HULUD were thinking around the corner and you could also witness that in their lyrical approach. I was fascinated by their crude formulated song titles and their dark and matured lyrics. They were full of self-doubt and self-loathing, full of desperation and depression. HULUD always threw around the term "misantrophy" and it somehow became their signature word, yet it wasn't as easy or one-sided. They wrote about broken love relationships, friendships gone waste, integrity and idealism in general, the fucked-up society we live in, the even more fucked-up mankind and the constant battle of maintaining a pure heart in a world full of evil shit. They all did this in a more analyzing kind of way, an in-depth and grown-up kind of way. The lyrics on "Hearts once nourished with Hope and Compassion" are the last piece of epic to make this one of my favourite records ever. As much as I love "That within Blood ill-tempered", and as much as I respect their later stuff, the anthemic lyrics and all those legendary singalongs are what sets HULUD's debut album above all...

I've listened way too many times to this album, therefor it somehow became one huge song for me. The end of one song and the beginning of the next one are deeply connected in my mind and that is also due to the overall, magic flow of the record. I especially love the beginning stretch, not just musically but also in terms of topics. 

Talking about the influence of SHAI HULUD and this album in general is kinda hard. It definitely was there, but it took place in a subtle kind of way. They may (or may not) have influenced bands like POISON THE WELL, FROM AUTUMN TO ASHES, THIS DAY FORWARD or EIGHTEEN VISIONS with their style, but it never was like anyone could re-create the HULUD-sound or coming near their innovative songwriting. In the 2000s there was a small wave of bands (most of them forgotten) who obviously were influenced by them, but none of them got really big. I'm thinking of bands like LIFE IN YOUR WAY, IT PREVAILS or ANAM CARA. SHAI HULUD always was an odd project that didn't fit in anywhere. It wasn't real Metalcore, it wasn't real Youth Crew-styled Hardcore, and back then the more progressive site of HC wasn't developed at all. Thus one can easily see their early stuff as a blueprint for it. To me, it was also funny when they were on a bill with standard Metalcore-bands, cause the landscape totally changed when they entered the stage, from the violent boxing-stuff to a "traditional" HC-gig, with finger pointing, singalongs, mosh pits, circle pits and stage dives.

To wrap this up, "Hearts once nourished with Hope and Compassion" is one of the most important records in my life and remains a timeless classic to me, that lost nothing over the years. This one's for the world: I love you!