Review by Shadowdoom9 (Andi) for Shai Hulud - Hearts Once Nourished With Hope and Compassion (1997)

Here's another band that has reached the top in the late 90s, Shai Hulud! Metallic hardcore has started taking higher ground, with this band paving the way for bands from a few years later like Poison the Well and Skycamefalling. Shai Hulud's debut Hearts Once Nourished with Hope and Compassion is an important late 90s metalcore record, and many metal/hardcore bands would be taking the aspect of emotional anger from the music and lyrics of Shai Hulud for their own sound. This band certainly isn't emo, but they have emotional passion in their lyrics and music. Hearts Once Nourished with Hope and Compassion consists of 9 amazing songs with the most intensity heard in the genre. Shai Hulud have been a highly significant part of the metalcore league despite the long 5+ year gap between albums and as many lineup changes as Annihilator. Their debut shows how beautiful hardcore can be. The band's strongest lineup has made their ultimate essential album!

Now would it surprise you found out that the vocalist at that time is Chad Gilbert, founding guitarist of pop-punkers New Found Glory? Chad has done amazing vocals in this album. He has screamed out messages of despair, with thoughts better communicated here than elsewhere. Though if you wanna hear melodic sung choruses with guitars performed by Chad, New Found Glory would be the better deal, but not for me though.

The opener "Solely Concentrating on the Negative Aspects of Life" makes a perfect point about those screams ("By defending those I love with my life"). One of my favorites here, "My Heart Bleeds the Darkest Blood" continues the unbeatable intelligence of those lyrics ("My heart is cold is stone, I laugh at the pain"). Then "Outside The Boundaries of a Friend" has excellent guitar intricacy that would make me say the Owen Wilson "WOW." The perfect devastation comes during the breakdowns in contrast to lightning fast rhythms that sear through.

"Beliefs and Obsessions" continues the band's top-notch metalcore zone, with devastation that sounds sensible. "A Profound Hatred of Man" sounds more emotional as Chad asks "Why should I strive for acceptance and piece of mind!?" Then they go far beyond where they've gone so far in "Beyond Man".

"This Wake I Myself Have Stirred" stands out with the guitar duo's exchange. The music is as amazing as the lyrics! "Eating Bullets of Acceptance" keeps up the earlier theme of striving for acceptance. Then we have one more slow-to-fast track "For the World". Then after 3 minutes of silence comes a bonus hidden track, an electro-industrial remix of "If Born From This Soil" from the Profound Hatred of Man EP, "Treatments for the Infected Foetus". Wow, they made industrial metalcore before it even caught on! Then finally, after a bit of studio jamming, they sign off with Sigourney Weaver's audio sample from Alien, "This is Lieutenant Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo...signing off."

All in all, Hearts Once Nourished with Hope and Compassion amazes me as much as hardcore fans when it was originally released 25 years ago. This is probably the best Shai Hulud offering for me, though I would still give their other albums a try. No other full album would have their original lineup with only their guitarist Matt Fox continuing the band along with bassist Matt Fletcher starting with their second album. Shai Hulud is no longer as active as they originally were, but Hearts Once Nourished with Hope and Compassion would be a major influence to the hardcore/metalcore world. Shal Hulud is still as influential as they've ever been these past 25 years. Hardcore/metalcore fans would surely be inspired by one of the most original bands of the genre. This is hardcore perfection!

Favorites: "Solely Concentrating on the Negative Aspects of Life", "Outside The Boundaries of a Friend", "Beliefs and Obsessions", "A Profound Hatred of Man", "This Wake I Myself Have Stirred"