Shai Hulud - Reach Beyond The Sun

First Further Seems Forever and now Shai Hulud. This return of the original lead singer is good. Yet unlike Further, Chad Gilbert's appearance seems to be nothing more than a one off for just the record. No touring involved. Oh well... At least we get an album out of it.

And a killer record at that!

Shai Hulud's always been an amazing hardcore band. And each record has been solid and a progression from the last record without leaving the path completely.

Reach Beyond The Sun builds on the musical progression of Misanthropy Pure and infuses it with some of the old school melodic elements of Hearts Once Nourished. While Chad's vocals sound great, his screaming has changed just enough to not feel like the band is rehashing something. It's not quite as extreme as hearing Shawn Jonas with Symphony in Peril for the first time, but it is different.

What Reach Beyond The Sun has that Misanthropy Pure was missing is an old school vibe. Maybe that's not something that matters a whole lot but I imagine to Shai Hulud fans, the vibe on Reach Beyond The Sun will make them happy.

There's a great combination of aggression and melody. The songs are some of the meanest sounding songs Matt Fox and the boys have ever given us, in a good way! The title track has one of my favorite openings to any song on the record. Super fast drum groove giving way to a killer melodic guitar riff before the song fades away and Gilbert's vocals come blazing in.

The songs are vicious, the guitar riffs tight. Shai Hulud brings back a side of hardcore and metalcore that's only not missing from the scene when the band releases a new album. Reach Beyond The Sun is my favorite record from the band since Hearts Once Nourished.