SHIHAD

"It may be naive to think that music can actually make a difference in this world," says SHIHAD singer Jon Toogood. "But it always has for me, so we have to try."

Some music is conceived, nurtured, crafted and targeted. Other music erupts, like blood from an artery, or a howl of pain or ecstasy. Over five albums, it's fair to say New Zealand's premier hard rock band has experimented with both. On their sixth, LOVE IS THE NEW HATE, they had no time for games.

It was on a farm in Ngamatea, in the middle of New Zealand's north island, that SHIHAD reconvened in autumn 2004 to start work on this album the end result is the purest, most honest record that SHIHAD has ever made.

LOVE IS THE NEW HATE was recorded at the Armoury in Vancouver in September '04, which turned out to be the perfect, unobtrusive facilitator to capture the primal rush of the new songs. Once again they turned to their old friend GGGarth Richardson, the producer of their classic of 2000, THE GENERAL ELECTRIC.

The first single ALIVE, is Shihad's darkest, heaviest song in many a year, but elevated by a blinding streak of sky-bound melody in the chorus. It struck the keynote for an album that would take SHIHAD back to the urgent ferocity of their earliest work, but immeasurably boosted by ten years worth of experience.

From a lyrical point of view, other tracks on the album include titles such as SHOT IN THE HEAD, SADDEST SONG IN THE WORLD, GUTS AND GLORY and STOP describing the visceral genesis and passionate declarations at the heart of the album.

Estimated despatch 5-10 days after ordering.