I have not heard about Integrity before, but turns out they have been plowing their brutality only 2 hrs away from me in Cleveland for 20 years now. Even though Integrity as an entity for me was an unknown, the works of Integrity members, via them owning record labels (Holy Terror Records by Dwid Hellion, vocals, and A389 Recordings by Domenic Romeo, guitars), reached my ears before. With these labels releasing music perched mostly on the edge between metal and hardcore, perhaps it is not surprising then Integrity itself, first known as Diehard, is in a hardcore punk territory. That is anyway where Integrity side of their split with Krieg resides.

Chaos reigns for Integrity throughout, even if taking slightly different forms from track to track. Scorched Earth is brutal, nasty, and I can’t quite call it melodic, but it starts piping in grindy guitar next to the slightly off beat drumming. Not satisfied with simple brutality, Flames of the Immortal raises the punky melodic level and features feral screams and crazy lead, while Sons of Satan travels all the way into the melodic grind. There is a profound, desperate melody on Sons of Satan, and ripping heroic lead at the end of the track invokes references to Scandinavian Wolfbrigade, Martyrdod or Livstid. I can definitely attest that as I was listening to Integrity side of the split my heart warmed up to the band with every additional spin. The closing nod to Japanese psychos G.I.S.M. with the cover of Document One shows how melody and madness can be combined in one sentence. While musically Integrity may feel fraternal to G.I.S.M. it is doubtful the shores of Lake Erie will ever see G.I.S.M. like antics (like taking running chainsaw into the crowd or spraying the front rows of listeners with bullets). It is OK though, this way Integrity can remain on this side of the bars and offer more releases.

The presence of Krieg on the split is probably more due to the fact Krieg was once released by Holy Terror Records, on their split with Leviathan, so it is quite likely Dwid Hellion (Integrity) and Neil Jameson (Krieg) know each other. Otherwise it is hard to think why Krieg makes an appearance on this split in particular, since they have not released new music in a while. The new track Circle of Guilt has vibrating guitars at the constant level, set near the limit of the aurally handleable assault. Bass and drums wallow underneath, until double bass kicks find their strength, and the whole song is transformed into the ever rising warrior beast. The older tracks Krieg has chosen for the split, This Time I’ll Leave You to Drown and the live rendition of The Sick Winds Stir the Cold Dawn, also rely on courageous bursts (This Time I’ll Leave You to Drown), or stare into horrible hurtful bedlam (The Sick Winds Stir the Cold Dawn). The latter ties pretty well into Integrity, so the loop is somewhat closed on this split.

Integrity Flames of the Immortal and Sons of Satan were my main attractions, and if you are an absolute die-hard Krieg fan and wish to know what this ever changing band is up to at the moment, then Circle of Guilt won’t disappoint either.