Shihad is a four-piece band from New Zealand, comprised of Jon Toogood (guitar/vocals), Tom Larkin (drums), Karl Kippenberger (bass) and Phil Knight (guitar). Its style is best described as "hard rock", although it were described as "metal" in its formative years.

Shihad was formed in 1988 in Wellington, New Zealand. It was briefly known between 2002-2004 as "Pacifier". During this time the band was attempting to break into the US market and it was decided that Shihad sounded too much like the Arabic word 'jihad', thus the name change. Its major albums and EPs include:

Devolve (EP) - 1991
Churn - 1993
Killjoy - 1995
Shihad - 1996
Blue Light Disco (EP) - 1998
The General Electric - 1999
Pacifier - 2002 (as "Pacifier")
Live - 2003 (as "Pacifier")
Alive (EP) - 2004
Love is the New Hate - 2005
Beautiful Machine - 2008
Ignite - 2010

In the course of Its career, Shihad has toured with and supported rock acts such as Faith No More, Filter, Motörhead, Metallica, AC/DC, Ash, Silverchair and Fu Manchu, and has a reputation for it energetic and powerful live performances. Despite a huge following in New Zealand and Australia, Shihad has never attained significant mainstream success outside of Australasia.

http://www.shihad.com/ - Shihad's official site.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shihad - Shihad's info on Wikipedia
http://shihadwiki.com/ - A Shihad Knowledge Base Wiki