Review
Integrity
Thee Destroy+orr

Yes, please peel my face off with the punishing blackened hardcore (that only Integrity can provide), please because life might be too comfortable otherwise! A new record from Integrity is both unexpected and completely welcome; so, having Detonate VVorld’s Plague (and the compilation CD that includes Detonate VVorld’s Plague as well as a collection of compilation, singles, and split release tracks from the Orr era of Integrity) show up on my doorstep already has me pumping my fist and gets my blood pumping at a feverish pace well before the record is even unpacked from the cardboard mailer. This record is seven new tracks from Dwid and his most recent partner in crime, Robert Orr; and if you have yet to hear any of the Orr era material, now is your chance to jump on board and get out from under that rock you have been living under for the last year and a half to two years.

Detonate VVorld’s Plague seemingly ratchets up the more viciously haunting elements that Integrity has developed a reputation for over the 20 plus years of their existence with Dwid’s apocalyptic lyrical visions still at the forefront of the blazing hardcore and metal hybrid (seriously, Orr’s blazing guitar leads are some of the best heard on an Integrity record since the days of the Melnick brothers) that serves as the musical modus operandi for the band. The music is blistering from the get go of the title track of the album (the sing along capabilities of “World’s Plague… Detonate” is mind boggling in the potential intensity) to the brooding menace of “Sermon Thirteen” and back to the crushing “Allisnone”; the sequencing of the vinyl version is just about everything that a listener could want from an Integrity album while the CD version includes these as well as some of my favorite Integrity tracks of recent vintage (particularly “VVe Are The End” and “Black Hexen Rise”).

As unbelievable as it sounds, Integrity has been a musical force for well over twenty years (and a part of my musical experience for just about as long); and against all odds (let’s face it, hardcore bands either go the way of the dodo or fall into self parody and irrelevance in a span of time much shorter than Integrity has been in existence), Dwid continues to collaborate with people to keep the band relevant and challenging still to this day to which this album certainly attests. Whether grabbing the vinyl version, Detonate VVorld’s Plague, or the CD, Thee Destroy+Orr, this album is a worthy addition to the growing discography of Integrity; this is not the worst jumping on point for those who have still not heard the musical stylings of the band, and it should not disappoint the slavering fanatics of the band either (though I am sure that there will still be those staunch “Melnick only” listeners and that is too bad because this album is excellent).