Integrity has always been known as one of the strangest hardcore bands for their envelope-pushing (forgive the cliché phrase, I’m drunk) brand of oddity-embracing riff-cannon wielding steaze that has attracted and repelled in equal amounts. Suicide Black Snake (A389 Recordings/Magic Bullet Records) will do little to convince haters that they are willing to change, and even less to convince longtime fans that they are er… willing to change. Yes, Suicide Black Snake is a different entity from other Integrity albums, but just how much so?
If you’ve read any other reviews by me, you should know that reviews that begin with a question often result in my normal ‘more of the usual, yet somewhat different’ spiel in that a band that has carved a path initially, but still is known by familiar patterns should expect to receive. You’ve been there for the crossover-as-fuck Systems Overload, the incredibly unorthodox To Die For, and even the intensely strange yet welcomely fucked up Integrity 2000, and you’re just expecting another surprise from the band, with their history as one of the O.G. metalcore bands alongside big names like Converge and Earth Crisis, among many others, with the flag being carried by today’s heavy and angular acts Gaza (R.I.P.) and Early Graves. Integrity are an important band, yes, but what are we willing to let them get away with whatever they want to do and say ‘Oh, they’re legendary, let’s avert our eyes and assume it’s good’?
Yes and no. Integrity know they’re mental (I dearly hope), and they’ve taken the time to tinker around with many different styles, including the more breakdown-laden and circle-pit soaked of them, and in-between. Mosh-fodder or not, Integrity have been there to say ‘we’re here’, and that certainly does matter in hardcore, a genre where the greats have either called it quits or phoned it in and left the new generation to phone it in. Unfortunately, Integrity haven’t got much left to shock the extreme music populace with, Sure, ‘There Ain’t No Living In This Life’ may start clean and suddenly distort everything two and a half minutes in, but coming from a band that has consistently been known for pulling these sort of tricks (a track record on the once legendary Victory records not-withstanding), it’s nothing new. The bluesy grooves, the metallic hardcore barbarity of ‘Detonate World’s Plague’, and the d-beat imitation of ‘Beasts As Gods’; it’s got the oomph you would expect from a band like Integrity, but where’s the original threat and chaos? It’s woefully non-existent, and Integrity has run out of tricks to keep us frightened on record. Live, it may be another treat, but I’ve yet to get punched to them, so until now, I’ll say that they’re not that fresh or inspired as they once were, at least as a listening experience.
7.5/10
Sean Pierre-Antoine