Love'em or Hate'em Integrity in my book were a game changing band in the second wave of hardcore. Their bleak out look on life, the haunting imagery and the use of iconoclastic individuals as part of their imagery made them a force to be reckoned with. To this day I have never seen them live, and I have been listening to their albums for over 16 years. The last show in which I was "supposed" to see them, they were about to go onstage and once again a huge fight broke out and they split, thanks for the fight Wade! This has happened on numerous occasions when I went to see them. Either they start shit with other bands or some random knucklehead runs his mouth, just how hardcore shows used to be, back when rock n roll was dangerous and fun.
Their style was always a bit different than the other bands at the time as they were slow and chugging instead of the speedy hardcore that was coming out of NYC aka, Sick Of It All, Killing Time, etc. This distinctive sound helped to define what is known as Cleveland Hardcore. To this day, I still believe that Integrity were ahead of their time and clearly put a stamp on a lot of the styles that are popular now. Too bad I didn't get to see them in their glorious violent days, damnit!
Integrity on Myspace
