Monday 4 February 2013

Integrity 2000 12"

Integrity 2000, the time most a lot of Integrity fans seem to easily "forget" about. Before this album was the might "Seasons in the Size of Days", which everyone loves to pieces. But this album sees the band live through a line-up change and takes quite a different musical approach. At some points it seems as if it may start reigning blood, but the basic Integrity elements are still lurking in there somewhere. 
 Perhaps to go along with the change in musical direction, the artwork seems totally different to other Integ artwork up to this point. It's a man sitting in a chair with a completely blurred face. No I don't understand it either. I don't even wanna get started on the back.
This was an unopened, sealed copy, so came along with the original insert in perfect condition. On the front is an unusual version of the classic Integrity skull. It's a more realistic looking picture than the usual cartoon, with eyes full of total despair. On the back is a picture of the group at the recording studio.
Although this isn't the most loved album, I'd been wanting it for a while, even if only to have a copy of every Integrity album. A seller on Ebay came to my rescue and had a copy with a fairly low buy now price. I got it thinking it'd probably just be a regular black pressing, but when I opened it a lovely grey marbled record came out. According to someone of deadformat, this is limited to 512 items. I haven't the faintest idea how reliable this is, but I'll go with it. A purple version also exists out there, limited to 309 copies.
 It may not be the best they've put out, but it's still Integrity so it's important to have. Although I must say I'm glad this style didn't hang around too long...

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