Integrity
Integrity 2000

Only Integrity was missing to complete the Metalcore quadrumvirate of the nineties.

So let's devastate appropriately, with a necessary clarification that I will provide in my writing; band from Cleveland, Ohio, founded in 1988 by the head honcho Dwid Hellion. Once again the record is produced by "Victory Records", a label that has a bulldog as its logo: a calling card that leaves no doubt about the heaviness of almost the entire album.

A work divided into two distinct parts, also from a personal judgment perspective.

The first part, up to track number ten, is an authentic godsend for those who favor certain malevolence: a powerful and abnormal avalanche of mud that in certain slowed parts reminds of Bolt Thrower and their immense epic-war power. Recording quality so "dense" as to highlight the infernal screams of the leader, with his voice like someone skinned and put on the grill. Tracks like the opener "2000" and the following "Never Surrender" and "Falling Away" give substance to my slobbering argument. An endless chaotic progression; a nightmare deserving of top marks.

The eleventh track "Eighteen.99" is a disorienting surprise that still falls within the positive judgment of the work: five minutes of Folk-Rock, with acoustic-psychedelic guitars and tribal percussion that I would never have expected from Integrity. Of icy and solemn beauty.

And here we come to the concluding trash: twenty-seven minutes, almost equally divided into two songs, of electronic Techno-Thrash with endless samples randomly thrown in that compel me to give a thumbs down without any second thoughts. I don't even want to mention the titles of the tracks; only a few other times have I listened to music so useless and harmful. As if good old Dwid, taking inspiration from the cover image, had completely fried his brain. One star, given as a gift, just to avoid giving ZERO.

If it weren't for this disconcerting finale, my judgment of "Integrity 2000" would be five stars.

But instead...

Ad Maiora.