During the 1980s, Dwid Hellion had enjoyed creating "fake bands", whom he would devise backstories and print merchandise for, spreading stories of these bands through word of mouth and calling in to radio shows. One of these fake bands was a supposedly twisted and violent straight edge band named Integrity. Following the disbandment of Hellion's legitimate straight edge youth crew band Die Hard, he morphed this vision into a real band, forming Integrity in 1988 with guitarist Aaron Melnick, who was also in Die Hard, as well as drummer Tony "Chubby Fresh" Pines and bassist Tom Front. The band's classic lineup consisted of Hellion and brothers Aaron and Leon Melnick, who were accompanied by various drummers during this time, releasing the band's first four studio albums. In 1999, Hellion recruited brothers Dave and Steve Felton of Mushroomhead, as well as bassist Craig Martini, renaming the group Integ2000. By 2001, the band had returned to simply Integrity, releasing an additional five studio albums.
History
Integrity performing live in 2012
While in his teens, Dwid Hellion would often create fake band logos and backstories, and then print and sell merchandise for them. One such band was "Integrity", whose logo he created from a scan of a cover of a book of the same name he had found in a second hand shop. The story he envisioned for this band was that they were the darkest and most violent straight edge band, who would assault concertgoers who were drinking.[1]
In the following years, Hellion met Aaron Melnick while both working as road crew, and they shared over their similarly broad musical taste. Together they formed the band Die Hard.[2] Following the disbandment of Die Hard, Hellion and Melnick formed Integrity along with drummer Tony "Chubby Fresh" Pines and bassist Tom Front,[3] making use of the concepts and artwork Hellion had designed years prior.[1] The band released their first demo tape Harder They Fall in 1989.[4] Following the departure of Front, Melnick's brother Leon, who was only in middle school at the time, took over the role as the band's bassist.[5] Soon, they hired second guitar Chris Smith, who was in the band False Hope.[2]
The band released their debut album Those Who Fear Tomorrow in 1991. Its fusion of metal and hardcore led to Integrity becoming one of the earliest cornerstones of the metalcore genre.[6] The album was universally panned by critics, many saying it would "ruin hardcore".[2] Despite this, the album was largely influential in the hardcore scene, pushing many groups to incorporate darker elements and metal influences.[7] Following the album's release, recruited drummer Mark Konopka who was previously a member of Outface.[2] Their second album They hired guitar Chris Smith, who was in the band False Hope, and Mark Konopka who was previously a member of Outface.[2]Systems Overload was released in 1995, by which time metalcore was beginning to become the most prominent style in the hardcore scene.[8] Their third album Humanity is the Devil was released in 1996,[9] followed by Seasons In The Size Of Days in 1997.[10]
Integrity in 2017
In 1999, the Melnick brothers departed from the group, leading to Hellion hiring Dave and Steve Felton of Mushroomhead, as well as bassist Craig Martini. This lineup changed its name to Integ2000. Following the departure of the Felton brothers, the band's name returned to simply "Integrity".[11] This lineup released the band's fifth album Integrity 2000 in 1999.[12] Their sixth album Closure was released in 2001.[10]
Their seventh studio album To Die For (2003) was advertised as their "comeback" album,[13] seeing the return of the band's founding drummer Tony Pines.[14] The same year, the band relocated to Belgium.[15][16]
Their eighth studio album The Blackest Curse was released in 2010.[17] Their ninth studio album Suicide Black Snake was released in 2013.[18] That same year, the band began recording with its Systems Overload era lineup: Hellion, Aaron and Leon Melnick, Chris Smith and Mark Konopka. This culminated in the 7th Revelation: Beyond The Realm Of The VVitch EP, which was first sold on January 18, 2014, the A389 X Bash concert, where the lineup performed. The EP was then officially released on February 7, 2014 by A389 Recordings.[19][20] Their tenth studio album Howling, For the Nightmare Shall Consume was released in 2017.[21]
The logo for the Process Church of the Final Judgment, a recurring symbol in Integrity's imagery, and the logo for their record label Holy Terror Records
Integrity's lyrics often discuss religions and the occult.[37] Criminal and cult leader Charles Manson is a common topic of the band's lyrics, whom Hellion described as "both a political prisoner and religious martyr. A messenger and a bard." Hellion maintained a personal relationship with Manson, releasing a number of recordings the cult leader had made in prison, Manson even endorsing Integrity's album Humanity is the Devil (1996).[38] Additionally, the Process Church of the Final Judgment is also often discussed.[26] It has even been suggested by Noisecreep that Hellion, under the pseudonym Jack Abernathy, founded the Process Church splinter group the Holy Terror Church of Final Judgment.[38] The band often write concept albums, exploring a single story across an album's wrong run-time,[11] with Humanity is the Devil being based on the beliefs of the Process Church.[39] Furthermore, Howling, For the Nightmare Shall Consume (2017) telling a story of Francis Bacon's involvement in a séance leading to him being lead through a number of esoteric events and gaining the ability to see the demons with humans.[40]
Legacy
Integrity was a pioneer of the metalcore genre. Those Who Fear Tomorrow (1991) merged hardcore with apocalyptic lyrics and metal's guitar solos and chugging riffs to create one of the primeval albums in the genre.[41][42] The term "holy terror" refers to the specific style of metalcore that Integrity helped to pioneer,[43] which is typified by soaring guitar leads,[44] gravelly vocals[45] and lyrics discussing western esotericism.[46]Revolver magazine writer Elis Enis stated that the album "influenced practically every breakdown that's been recorded since".[47] Philip Trapp of Loudwire stated that Integrity "charted the course for metalcore to come", citing Dwid Hellion as one of the genre's most iconic vocalists.[48]
In the 2013 Decibel "Hall of Fame", Integrity's Systems Overload (1995) was referred to as "the landmark work in a grand and heretical oeuvre".[49]
7th Revelation: Beyond The Realm Of The VVitch (EP) (2013)
Other
Harder They Fall (Demo) (1989)
Palm Sunday (Live) (2006, Aurora Borealis)
All Death Is Mine: Total Domination (Compilation) (2024, Relapse Records)
References
^ abDerrick Green, Damian Abraham (August 24, 2020). Episode 282 - Derrick Green (Sepultura, Outface, Alpha Jerk) (podcast). Retrieved December 20, 2024. We were in high school, and Dwid had this idea... he had this book that he got from this second hand bookstore andIntegrity was the title, and the lettering is pretty much the shirt lettering... He was like, I'm gonna start making shirts of this band Integrity, and there's not even gonna be a band... so he made up an idea of this band Integrity that were a straight edge band and they were extremely violent, and they'd do shows and they're just beating up people with bears and he gave it this whole background story... He was like "I'm gonna sell them at shows and talk about this band Integrity that doesn't even exist and the people just started to really believe it.
^Dwid Hellion (September 9, 2024). Episode 282 - Derrick Green (Sepultura, Outface, Alpha Jerk) (podcast). Retrieved December 20, 2024. Lenny Melnick is (Aaron's) brother and he played bass in Integrity for a while, but he only really joined the band because he's like a crazy savant type person who can just do anything and he was a lot younger at the time than us... our bass player quit and we needed a bass player so Aaron was like "Hey, why don't you fucking do it", and he was in middle school.
