Integrity To Die For (2003) Deathwish

A while back, when Rancid signed to a major I can remember a lot of people asking "whatever happened to integrity?" Although they weren't actually referring to this band, it did get me thinking. What did happen to Integrity? Their last couple Victory recordings were mediocre at best, and I can say that I didn't have very high expectations for this release either. However, backed by a new label (Deathwish), Integrity has set out to turn some heads with "To Die For".

It seems that as of late metalcore means "bad metal riffs with predictable breakdowns that add nothing to the song", not on this album. Integrity actually play metalcore that features real metal and real core. There are breakdowns here, but they actually serve a purpose, providing a small break from the churning guitars and double bass rolls. The guitar playing on here is just excellent, I'm glad atleast one band hasn't forgotten how to solo. This album actually sounds fresh as opposed to their contemporaries. Integrity has been around for 15 years, and yet they still can stand up to just about any new band in this genre. The melodic guitar breaks are also well done, again in glaring contrast to their younger brothers who can't seem to make their songs flow.

"To Die For" isn't exactly something new or something that has never been done, but it might serve as the well placed kick in the ass that metalcore has needed for quite some time. I'm glad to see that Integrity has pulled itself out of the sort of rut that it was lodged in. This band may have some miles left in it yet.

Blessed Majesty MP3

(FortyMinutesWest)