It’s been six years in the making, and Shai Hulud has endured various stresses in the process (openly proclaiming they’re looking for a new label was a good indication of unhappiness), but “Ill Tempered” certainly lives up to the anticipation. Projecting their music well beyond the genre trappings of either metal or hardcore, Shai Hulud both revolutionizes their sound and sets a bar of complexity and intricacy that few other bands would dare to attempt reaching. Still possessed of their trademark fierceness, the band has so separated itself from cliché that the neck-snapping tempo changes and dense arrangements on lengthy tracks like “Ending the Perpetual Tragedy” are as exhausting as they are refreshing.
This article appears in May 21-27, 2003.