Live Review: Shihad, Storytime

Local trio Storytime may have taken a sizeable break after touring throughout the nineties but after taking a look at the crowd response for the cult act it has done little to diminish the enthusiasm.

From the galloping breakdowns and thrash influenced verses of Skyrider to the crunching pace of Spirol, it was a memorable slot for the instrumentalists, proving their relevance as well as showing appreciation for an eager fans.

Celebrating the twentieth anniversary of their self-titled record (or as it’s affectional known, the fish album), Shihad could have easily phoned it in with replicating the album tracklist, play an extra for the encore, then shove off. Thankfully this isn’t their style.

Instead they picked their four favourites from the LP and shifted the rest of their set to a journey through the bands years, sampling songs from great records such as Killjoy, The General Electric and FVEY. Though the set started awkwardly with the band seemingly distracted or disinterested, it took the manic pace of the one two hit from The General Electric and My Mind Sedate midway through lit the fire underneath frontman Jon Toogood and he begam swinging from the lighting rigs with his feet kicking towards the heaving barrier bodies.

From there the band continued to bubble with energy. Each member seemed to take their time in the sun with their own key track, from the thick rhythm of Yr Head Is A Rock for Karl Kippenberger and Tom Larkin to the understated riffs of Phil Knight during FVEY, everybody had their favourite to play live, and their excitement was contagious. It may not have been as memorable as some previous tours, but the fact remains that this is the four piece blasting away under pulsing strobes, with aggressive vigor to some of the heaviest riffs they’ve ever written, in complete ear bleeding decibel levels.

Shihad delivered here, they haven’t changed a bit over those twenty odd years and it’s fantastic.