Integrity - Howling, for the Nightmare Shall Consume

Integrity’s gruff and impatient approach to sludge-y stoner thrash with similar vibes to that which High on Fire creates takes a bit of patience on the listener’s part, especially with the powerful but monotonous slowly-throat-grating vocals that encircle the music. But upon sufficient retries, the dynamic of the music, its proficiency in song-writing of styles of various sorts shines through. There were a few moments on this album that sounded like what Kerry King was trying to do on the last Slayer album, but couldn’t seem to pull through, one being the opening of the epic “Unholy Salvation of Sabbati Zevi”, a highlight for its adventurousness, followed by an unexpectedly moody-then-furious “7 Reese Mews”. My only lasting complaint with the album is that the band just spit out a few quick, seemingly obligatory hardcore, punk-y tunes, whose vibe is quickly replaced by the more sludgy epics comprising the middle of the record. While bringing a few decent riffs to the table, they burn out with not as much impact as faster material on an album of this style should have on its overall dynamic. While there are so many intense and solid moments on the album, it’s biggest problem is stringing them together to make a solid, gripping complete set of songs.

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