After two decades a lot has changed for Shihad. They are certainly older, very much wiser and the haircuts are definitely shorter.

But the fire and the electricity that Kiwi listeners fell in love with back in 1993 when they kicked down the door and burst onto the scene with debut album ‘Churn' is still raging.

This summer Shihad with The Datsuns, I Am Giant and Cairo Knife Fight are embarking on the FVEY Live National tour which will see them play seven-show across the country.

The first half of Shihad's set will see ‘FVEY' performed in its entirety and then a selection of their songs they 'love the most” will wrap the shows up, says frontman Jon Toogood.

'These shows are going to be brutal, they will be the biggest, longest shows we've ever done.”

This year Shihad released their tenth album ‘FVEY', debuting at number one on the NZ charts and becoming the band's fifth number one album in their career.

Recorded at York Street Studios, it was produced by the legendary Jaz Coleman who also produced ‘Churn' and is well known for his orchestral work and fronting post-punk band Killing Joke.

'Jaz was the perfect foil for Shihad. He basically put a rocket up our arse, he was the ultimate personal trainer basically. He made us work and work and work.”

For ‘FVEY' they were given no time to sit around and smell the roses, with the band writing and arranging at least two songs a day, says Jon.

Ending up with a list of 50 songs, they whittled it down to 20, and then eventually the 11 songs which appear on the album.

Well known for their intense shows, Shihad captured this feeling by recording ‘FVEY' live in studio.

'When we were making this album Jaz was like ‘forget you are making an album, you are making a new live set list that's going to slay other bands' and I can say that it definitely does that.

'To us, FVEY is one piece of music as far as we're concerned, with 11 separate movements.”

This new album is the perfect vehicle for Shihad to vent their anger at the many political and social injustices they see taking place in the world at the moment.

Angst and frustration is not solely for the young and Jon says there was a lot for the 'four now fully grown men” to talk about.

'I'm sick of seeing huge queues outside the Auckland City Mission, I'm sick of seeing people who already have more than what they need get even more when people go hungry.

'I'm sick of being told by politicians who are now pretty much working for corporations or big business telling me what's good for me when I know it's not.

'The individualistic, materialistic end game is a road to nowhere as far as I'm concerned. Real value comes from your relationships to your community and love, and respect comes out of that.”

This month's tour will not be the first time Shihad have performed one of their albums in its entirety, having done so with 1995's ‘Killjoy' and 1999's ‘The General Electric'.

He says performing a full album put you 'back in the headspace of what you were thinking at that time”.

'It's also very intense. When you make an album you don't think ‘I'm going to play every song on this record', usually two or three you like the most and they're the ones you play.

'But these shows will be much cooler than the retrospective thing because it's actually what I am thinking right now.

'Shihad is in a better shape than it has been since ‘The General Electric' so people better listen to the new record because you have to sing along and go crazy and just go hard.”

The FVEY Live Tour featuring Shihad with The Datsuns, I Am Giant and Cairo Knife Fight takes place over Christmas and New Year's.

The tour lands at the Coroglen Tavern in Coroglen on Sunday, December 28, and then heads to Brewers Field in Mount Maunganui, on Friday, January 2, from 5pm.

Tickets cost $65 + BF and can be purchased via Ticketmaster's website at www.ticketmaster.co.nz