I first heard this band when I was a kid in the 90-ies. A couple of my friends were running hardcore distribution here in my hometown and they were also doing an excellent fanzine called Lifeline. One of Miozan records, I think it was “Nothing Remains” was on that distro and we were listening to it a couple of times and thought, boy, this one is good. The years passed by and 20 years later here is the new record by these German hardcore veterans. It is the sixth full length album and the first released since 2000. After some lineup changes through the years the band sounds mightier than ever and believe you me, this one is a keeper! The album contains 12 hardcore anthems just the way I love it. They play hardcore with street attitude and streetpunk/oi influences the way it was played on the Eurocore scene in the 90-ies. When I am down, but never out, I listen to this record and it is one of those albums that bring you back your strength. You feel that force, that hardcore energy that is all around you and you just keep on fighting and never let the bastards grind you down. It is hard to pick some album highlights because all of the songs are excellent, but some of my so called favourites are “Dare To Dream”, “Surrender Denied”, “Straight From the Heart”….Listen to this record over and over again and be one with the force of hardcore energy.
This Cleveland based band has seen some action in almost thirty years of existence. With the flow of time they secured themselves cult status and they became legends. I remember when I first heard their record “Systems Overload” back in the mid nineties I was stunned with their unique darkened and apocalyptic vision of hardcore with lots of metallic edge. With mastermind/vocalist Dwid Hellion being the only constant in the band lineup they released twelve albums, this brand new being included. On this record Integrity continues to explore the hardcore genre boundaries creating fourteen songs, conceptual hymns to the apocalypse. Music is everything you expect to hear from this band, meaning aggressive fast paced almost black metallish songs(“Blood Sermon”), mid tempo pumping groove hooks(“I Am The Spell”) but also punkish anthems(“Die With Your Boots On”). Underneath it all, great melodies and guitar solo parts flow through the whole album. Who loved this band before this record will love them even more and who did not love them, well this record will not make their feelings grow warmer towards this band.
Finally, the new Shattered Sun album is out on mighty Victory Records. I told you many times during my writing and your reading the articles in this zine, that I am not the fan of metalcore. Well, the music of this Texas band is not metalcore, I would rather define it as melodic modern metal with some hardcore and metalcore influences. Somehow they remind me like a crossbreed between Fear Factory and In Flames. The album surprised me because I was not expecting such fine tunes delivered by these guys. This album contains 10 new songs of aggressive but also melodic and memorable metal songs, based mostly on faster paced drumming with excellent moshing parts and lovable interaction between brutal and clean vocals, with atmospheric keyboard passages that hit you and awake in you pleasure while listening. I cant recall the last time I was so pleased with some new band playing this kind of music. The memorable songs on this album are:”Keep Your Eyes Shut”, “Out For Justice”, “Die For Nothing”…
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 