Music

Fifteen years later, New Found Glory's Chad Gilbert is back singing for metalcore pioneers Shai Hulud

by Tyler Munro

Shai Hulud have gone through so many members since bursting on the scene with 1997’s Hearts Once Nourished with Hope and Compassion that the “former members” section of their Wikipedia page needs to be expanded to be viewed. It lists 6 vocalists, 6 drummers, four guitarists and three bassists, and that’s in addition to current members Matt Fox, Matt Fletcher, Matt Cover and Tony “Matt” Delmonego. That’s 23-members total, or basically the hardcore Polyphonic Spree.

But after a decade-plus away from the band, Chad Gilbert is back in the mix. Sort of. Those who only know him for his work with New Found Glory (or because he’s dating Paramore’s Hayley Williams) might be in for a shock.

It was long rumoured that he’d produce Shai Hulud’s latest, and thought that maybe he’d even sing a bit on it. But Matt Fox says it’s bigger than that, and while Gilbert hasn’t rejoined as a permanent fixture (he won’t tour with them, but he’ll do the odd show), he did record vocals for the entire album. As Fox points out in a post written on the band’s website, this is the first time Shai Hulud’s had the same vocalist on two full lengths. What’s crazy isn’t just the 15 year gap between albums, but that the wait is actually longer than Gilbert was when he first joined the band.

“Surely, a majority of you saw this coming. We knew our elusive responses of ‘Clark Griswold’ when asked ‘who sang on the album?’ would foster this very speculation,” he wrote on the band’s website. “Tacitly obvious, really. Hidden in plain sight even. If this is a total shocker to you, don’t worry too much; while banking, and parking in metropolitan areas is sometimes difficult, with moderate help, you should manage well enough. In theory.”

The follow-up to 2008’s Misanthropy Pure doesn’t have a title or release date yet, but from the update it seems like work on it is pretty much wrapped up. We’d expect it out early next year if we had to guess.