Awesome Instrumentation Accompanies Stale Vocals
Integrity has been around for a good while. The band first formed in 1988 and has since been host to a revolving door of members under one constant: lead singer Dwid Hellion. Integrity’s long history only means that Hellion lived through almost every era of metal music, and embraced a new band lineup for each. This comes together to create Howling, for the Nightmare Shall Consume, an album that shockingly uses almost every genre of metal side by side.
Integrity certainly covered all their bases with this 11 track record that transforms throughout. The album makes a track by track jump from black metal to punk to sludge metal to thrash metal in a short 57 minutes. For example, the first full song “Blood Sermon” is about as black metal as it gets, but the next song after is “Hymn for the Children of the Black Flame,” which emits a thrashy aura through and through.
“I am the Spell” and “Die with Your Boots On” then enter hard as two album highlights. The screaming guitar tones on “I am the Spell” and the straight punk rock drive of “Die with Your Boots On” are real winners in the grand scheme of this album. Although both songs are early on, they will hook any metal fan at first listen.
The first half of the album presents snackable song lengths under three minutes until the aptly named midway point, “Serpent Crossroads” signals a flow change. The song almost reaches seven minutes and sets the stage for longer songs to come. From there, the rest of the album sounds as if Integrity magically inherited the instrumentation of sludge metal music.
With the exception of “Burning Beneath the Devils Cross,” when pace slows down in the second half of Howling, we get to see some groovier chops from Integrity. Specifically, “String Up My Teeth” is an rocking anthem that even introduces some female vocals, which act as a nice contrast to Hellion’s persistent bellowing.
This album spans so many metal genres and covers a wide spectrum of instrumentation. However, much like the band, the constant is always Hellion’s vocals on every track. His style is certainly unique, but there is no variation in it on Howling. The singing is consistent, but it gets to be predictable after a few songs. Vocals are clearly this record’s biggest downfall and they make it tough to listen to more than two songs at a time.
Howling presents so much at once. At the end of the day, it is a well thought out work that flows and grooves throughout. For any diehard fans of Integrity, this album will surely be a spectacular listen. To those who do not know Integrity, expect a very consistent vocal melody and range among some truly awesome instrumentation.
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