2018 was a sad time for Shields and their fans, not only did the band lose guitarist and friend George Christie, but they understandably also called time on the band. Now they’re back with new album Death & Connection and this is an album that hits death head on and is actually the best Shields music to date.
I love the atmospheric instrumentation behind the speech in opening track This is Not a Dream. The words are powerful, focusing on the realisation that Joe’s previous relationship was abusive and the track is almost like a therapeutic exercise for him.
This is in direct contract to the absolute rager that follows in ABUSER. This was a conscious decision according to Sam to show the intense anger and ferocity. From the get go it’s brutal and in your face and I love it.
Kill is another brutal one which Joe highlights how it is heavily inspired by his late brother, with the lyrics coming from a poem he wrote, and the rapping which is a genre he introduced Joe to when he was younger. The breakdowns in the track are sick, and the lyrics are ones that someone with an addiction or having recovered from an addiction will relate to. I feel the lines “Baby steps, just twelve of them
Showed me my problems lie within
The hardest part I thought was not drinking
The hard part was life without drinking” hit hard.
I kinda want to send Lacerate (which features Graphic Nature’s Harvey Freeman) to everyone I dislike because it’s absolutely brutal and the line “I wish you nothing but misery” repeated throughout us quite accurate. The extreme breakdowns in this and Wolfskin (which features Left To Suffer’s Taylor Barber) are absolutely class.
Brother’s Lament is just over a minute and a half and although there is no words until just over the minute mark, you can feel the emotion from the elegy of the instrumentation.
Sam mentions how Loser is a bit of a palate cleanse after the brutality of the majority of the album and allows the listener to prepare for the final two songs and it is.
The last two songs are probably the most emotional on the record, with Death & Connection being Joe bearing all of his emotions following the death of his brother, and Miss Me being the band’s tribute to their late bandmate George.
The titular track combines melodic elements with brutal anger and frustration, whilst Miss Me is much more somber and melodic, focusing on George’s funeral. It’s a beautiful song.
The album shows Shields’ growth. The introduction of synths add a lighter element to what is a largely heavy record. The vocal deliveries are flawless, whether its guttural screams, Parasites’ smooth cleans or the rapping in Kill.
The instrumentation is solid throughout, going absolutely hard and I have to feel for Alastair’s hands and arms after recording this as you can hear the intensity of the drums is switched right up to 300% throughout the album.
All of the songs focus around experiences with either the death of a close loved one or toxic and abusive relationships and the lyrical content is top notch, perfectly bringing across the feelings that the band had during the experiences they are drawing from, as well as putting those same feelings to the front of the minds of the listener if they’ve had a similar experience.
I saw Shields live a decade ago and after listening to this, I cannot wait to see them again and hear some of these absolute monstrosities live.
