Integral – Resilience (Review)

Integral are an Italian death metal/deathcore band and this is their debut album.

This is one for fans of modern aggression that mixes technical, brutal, and melodic death metal with elements of deathcore. This would be enough in its own right – but what’s this? We also get some minor jazz fusion, experimental, and ambient influences showing up to the party here and there.

Very nice.

So, if you like modern hard-hitters like The Faceless, Gorod, The Black Dahlia Murder, Obscura, All Shall Perish, etc., then you’d best check this out.

The melodic side of the band stops their technical side from getting too out of control, while the latter stops the former from dominating everything. In other words, they strike a good balance between the two. Throw in some rampant brutality, crushing heaviness, sheer intensity of delivery, and some experimental flourishes, and you have a full and engrossing record.

The vocals consist of savage screams that sound like they can pierce your eardrums, deep, barbarous growls that sound like they’re going to swallow you whole, and seemingly everything between these two extremes.

Blast beats and heavy grooves seem to trade places at the drop of a hat, and just when you least expect it the experimental sections are thrown into the mix, whether this is a short jazz section, some progressive/post-metal reflection, or something else.

Resilience is an accomplished and enjoyable listen. With enough quality content to satisfy fans of instant brutality as well as those looking for some extra depth and nuance, Integral have put out quite a monster of an album.

I could easily see this band being snapped up by one of the larger extreme metal labels not too long from now. If they keep up this level of quality and can get the right exposure, the future should be bright for Integral.