Integrity
| Integrity | |
|---|---|
 |
|
 Integrity (2012) |
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| General information | |
| origin | Cleveland (United States) |
| Genre (s) | Hardcore punk , metalcore |
| founding | 1989 |
| Founding members | |
| Dwid Hellion | |
| Christopher Hawthorne Smith | |
| Leon Micha Melnick | |
| Antonio Michael Pines | |
| Current occupation | |
singing |
Dwid Hellion |
guitar |
Mike Jochum |
guitar |
Matt Brewer |
bass |
Steve Rockhurst |
Drums |
Nate Jochum |
| former members | |
guitar |
Frank Novinec |
Guitar, bass |
Aaron Melnick |
guitar |
Blaze Tischko |
Drums |
Chris Dora |
Integrity is a band founded in 1989 and is one of the most famous hardcore groups in Cleveland . At the beginning of their career, the band was part of the straight edge scene. It is one of the few bands that combined satanic themes and hardcore punk.
Band history
Integrity was founded in 1989 by John "Dwid Hellion" McLimans and continues to this day with frequent line-up changes. According to his own statement, Dwid Hellion does not have a permanent line-up, "on the contrary, all the musicians on the new album are exclusively friends who have so far not become well-known, for example through previous bands".
The band released their first demo Grace of Unholy in 1990 and released their debut album in 1990 via Overkill Records. Integrity then released a number of split releases and singles , until 1995 when their second album Systems Overload was released. Her albums in the 1990s appeared mostly on Victory Records and their own label, Dark Empire Records. One of the band's best-selling works was the album Humanity Is the Devil , which sold around 15,000 times.
When lead singer McLimans had differences with his band members in 1999, he changed the name of the band to Integrity 2000 . For this new band he recruited musicians from Cleveland such as "J-Mann", "Skinny" and "Gravy" (all members of the band Mushroomhead ) as well as Craig Martini ( Unified Culture ). McLimans later changed the name to Integ2000 , only guitarist "Gravy" remained from the previous members as part of this renaming. For this line-up, McLimans hired Emery Ceo ( Runt / Ritual ) and Kevin Skelly ( Hatrix ). The band released a split CD with Fear Tomorrow. The Integ2000 album Project: ReGenesis from 2000 contains eight songs that offer a variety of electrical noise inserts. Under the old name and with a new line-up, Closure was released in 2001 . The album was largely inspired by McLiman's musical role models Joy Division , Samhain and Misfits . A cover version of the Misfits track Hybrid Moments is included on the album.
Two years later, McLimans cast the band again. As part of this process, founding member Chubbz Fresh ( One Life Crew ) joined the band as drummer and McLiman's brother "Blaze" ( In Cold Blood , One Life Crew) as guitarist. In 2003 they released To Die For , which draws on the band's roots, especially their debut Those Who Fear Tomorrow . In the same year, Integrity switched from Victory Records to Deathwish Inc., where Terror and Ringworm are also represented.
In the 2000s, the band released a number of albums and other releases. In 2005, there was a fight at a gig for the band in Portland , Oregon , in which McLimans was attacked by skinheads . This happened at a time when the band was solid and the new album To Die For was well received in the scene. Then the tour had to be canceled and McLimans broke up the band for a short time. However, since 2008 at the latest, Integrity has been active again. In the meantime, McLimans moved to Belgium, where he reformed the band. In 2010 the last studio album to date, The Blackest Curse, was released . The compilation Thee Destroy + orr followed in 2011, which contained songs from 2009 to 2011.
Music style and ideology
Integrity began as a hardcore punk band in the 1990s and was part of the Hatecore and straight edge scene at the time , although they did not call themselves straight edge and incorporated elements of metal into their music very early on . It is one of the most popular bands from Cleveland and, among other things, laid the foundation for metalcore . Hatebreed's career is also closely linked to Integrity, whose singer Jamey Jasta started out as the band's roadie and was inspired by them. One of the first Hatebreed releases was also a split EP with Integrity.
The group later adopted many elements of early punk as well as electronic music . Hellion also has an interest in noise music . Elements of this style can also be found in music. However, the band is also considered difficult on the scene, as Hellion rarely minuses. So there were always fights and canceled gigs. There are also a number of line-up changes. According to his own statement, 60 musicians were already active in the band in 2005. Hellion describes himself as a " terrorist of destructive artistic creation" who has a special understanding of art and who is not concerned with acceptance or recognition.
The band itself takes a satanic approach. Hellion belonged for a time to the Process Church of the Final Judgment , which, along with Satan and Lucifer, also counts YHWH among the three great gods and regards Jesus Christ as their messenger. He later founded the Holy Terror Church of Final Judgment , which today functions primarily as a label. The scene that Hellion co-founded was apocalyptically oriented and saw Straight Edge as a way of cleansing society before the end of the world . In addition to Integrity, Ringworm and Transcend were also part of this scene. It currently plays a subordinate role, although its importance is mostly exaggerated in the specialist literature on the hardcore punk scene. The collective of authors Ingo Taler points to the multiple use of fascist aesthetics, often in the form of stylized swastika flags. Since McLimans also called Boyd Rice a loyal friend, for whom he has "the greatest respect [...] as an artist, musician and terrorist", and since Rice appears as a guest musician on the Integrity album The Blackest Curse , Taler assumes an ideological proximity to the controversial rice. Accordingly, Sven Gonzo from the hardcore fanzine ZAP put “the music in a political context” in his review of Those Who Fear Tomorrow , “which did not correspond to the intention of the band and their lyrics at all, but solely to its [sic!] Associations was based ".
Side projects
Dwid Hellion runs the side project Psywarfare, which tends more towards industrial metal . Parts of the band played in the Hatecore band One Life Crew , which attracted attention in the hardcore punk scene with homophobic and xenophobic statements.
Discography
Albums
- 1991: Those Who Fear Tomorrow (Overkill Records)
- 1995: Systems Overload ( Victory Records )
- 1995: Humanity Is the Devil (Victory Records)
- 1997: Seasons in the Size of Days (Victory Records)
- 1997: Integrity 2000 (as Integrity 2000, Victory Records)
- 2000: Project: Regenesis (as Integ 2000, East Coast Empire Records)
- 2001: Closure (Victory Records, Drug Bust Records)
- 2003: To Die For (Deathwish Inc.)
- 2010: The Blackest Curse
- 2013: Suicide Black Snake (A389 Recordings)
- 2017: Howling, For the Nightmare Shall Consume ( Relapse Records )
EPs, splits and singles
- 1990: In Contrast of Sin (Victory Records)
- 1992: Les 120 journees de Sodome (Split-7 '' with Mayday)
- 1995: Integrity (Blood Book Records)
- 1996: Split EP with Psywarfare (Victory Records)
- 1997: Split EP with Hatebreed (Stillborn Records)
- 1998: Split EP with Lockweld (Victory Records)
- 1999: Split CD with Fear Tomorrow (as Integ2000, East Coast Empire Records)
- 2008: Walpurgis Night (A389 Recordings)
- 2009: Love Is… the Only Weapon (Split EP with Creepout, Juke Boxxx Record)
- 2009: Split EP with AVM (Holy Terror)
- 2010: We Are the End (Magic Bullet Records)
- 2011: Detonate World's Plague (Holy Terror)
- 2011: Black Heksen Rise (Split-Double 7 '' with Red in Hell, Thirty Days of Night Records)
- 2011: Harder They Fall (Flexi-7``, Organized Crime Records)
Other publications
- 1990: Grace of Unholy (demo, later as a single on Progression Records)
Compilations and live albums
- 1993: Den of Inquity (Dark Empire)
- 1994: Hookedlungstolenbreathcunt ( Lost & Found Records )
- 1997: Taste of Every Sin (Holy terror Church of Final Judgment)
- 2001: In Contrast of Tomorrow (Victory Records)
- 2003: From the Womb to the Tomb Vol. 1 (88 Records)
- 2005: Sliver in the Hands of Time ( Dockyard 1 , Good Life Recordings)
- 2006: Palm Sunday (live album, Spook City Records)
- 2011: Thee Destroy + orr (Holy Terror)
- 2017: Live At This Is Hardcore Fest MMXVI (Holy Terror)
Web links
- Integrity at Discogs (English)
- Official website of Holy Terror (including free downloads of various integrity albums)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dominik Winter: Interviews: Integrity . In: Ox-Fanzine . No. 43 (June-August), 2011 ( ox-fanzine.de ).
- ↑ a b Integrity Discography. Spirit of Metal, accessed March 9, 2012 .
- ↑ Biography at Allmusic (English). Retrieved March 9, 2012.
- ↑ a b c d D.X. Ferris: The Godfather of Cleveland Hardcore. Clevescene.com, April 27, 2005, accessed March 9, 2012 .
- ^ Dominik Winter: Integrity: Closure Review . In: Ox-Fanzine . No. 43 (June-August), 2011 ( ox-fanzine.de ).
- ↑ Integrity's dwID Sits Down for Rare interview. Noisecreep, November 16, 2009, accessed March 9, 2012 .
- ↑ Where-It-Ends.com: Dwid Hellion (Integrity, Holy Terror Records) Interview ( Memento from January 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b In Contrast of Sin. Interview . In: No Exit (Fanzine) . S. without page indication ( lovebunnipress.com - approx. 1990).
- ↑ Q&A with Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed! blogs.browardpalmbeach.com, accessed March 9, 2012 .
- ↑ a b Dwid Hellion of Integrity Rare Exclusive Interview! Blowthe scene.com, May 25, 2010, accessed March 9, 2012 .
- ^ Bill Beckett: Preparing For the Fiery End: Process. The Havard Crimson, April 27, 1971, accessed September 12, 2011 .
- ^ Robert T. Wood: Straightedge Youth. Complexity and Contradictions of a Subculture . Syracuse University Press, New York 2006, ISBN 0-8156-3127-8 , pp. 60-61 .
- ↑ Merle Mulder: Straight Edge. Subculture, ideology, lifestyle? Münster 2009, ISBN 978-3-933060-29-7 , pp. 24 .
- ↑ a b c Ingo Taler: Out of Step . Hardcore punk between rollback and neo-Nazi adaptation. series of anti-fascist texts / UNRAST-Verlag , Hamburg / Münster 2012, ISBN 978-3-89771-821-0 , p. 148 .
- ↑ Carlos Ramirez: Integrity's Dwid Sits Down for Rare Interview. Noisecreep, November 16, 2009, accessed August 22, 2014 .
- ^ Ingo Taler: Out of Step . Hardcore punk between rollback and neo-Nazi adaptation. series of anti-fascist texts / UNRAST-Verlag , Hamburg / Münster 2012, ISBN 978-3-89771-821-0 , p. 147 f .
- ↑ Ross Haenfler: Straight Edge: Clean living youth, Hardcore Punk and Social Change . Rutgers University Press, New Jersey, ISBN 0-8135-3852-1 , pp. 90 .