Ten years ago I saw Jon Toogood perform a solo acoustic rendition of some classic Shihad songs to an absolutely packed Hunter Lounge in Wellington. He casually walked out onto the stage with his acoustic guitar, sat down, and proceeded to smash out what is one of the most explosive and commanding performances I have ever seen. Even seated, his presence was so massive it dwarfed the headlining band he was opening for, whose name I can't even remember.

Hearing that Toogood had a brand new solo album coming out, and that it would be an acoustic release, I was extremely excited, and eagerly anticipated more of the same kind of blasting vocals and vigorous guitar thrashing I saw that night in the Hunter Lounge.

But Last Of The Lonely Gods is an entirely different album. It's calm, intentional and unashamedly personal, coming across like a decades worth of journals, collected and published as an open letter. The album ranges from simple finger picked guitar and vocal folk novellas like The Best You Can to others, such as Gravity, supported by a full band and faster tempo, but still just as contemplative and introspective.

Love Is Forever is a simple and absolutely beautiful song about the inescapable pain we experience from the loss of those we love, but how the consoling beauty of seeing them live on in the eyes of our children and hope that gives us for the future. It isn't fancy, riddled through layers of metaphor and poetic obfuscation it's honest and direct, "You were there, and now you're gone, just a picture on my wall", "But you're alive, when I see my little girl'. Simple. Brilliant.

As directly personal as Last Of The Lonely Gods is it still comes across universal and relatable, Us Against The World is a sweet melodic ballad, written in the first person about what feels like very specific events in Toogood's life, but anyone who has experienced the phenomenal resilience you can find in the arms of the one you love knows what this song is about, the refrain "Us against the world" kind of says it all.

I came in expecting to hear a full metal band being funnelled through the body of a single dude with naught but an acoustic guitar, something loud, energetic and explosive. But instead we get this sweet and honest album of songs that feel so personal I feel like I know the artist better as a person. There is a world in which this could have been a major disappointment and basted with accusations of 'going soft' but it is so raw and confronting that it is anything but. It takes courage to be vulnerable, often those vulnerabilities are what make us most endearing.

In Last Of The Lonely Gods Jon Toogood has made a very beautiful piece of art, and shared a message I think many people often need reminding of, it isn't weak to say when it hurts, and strength isn't shown only by silence.

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