Integrity / Lockweld Split 7"

Here is yet another of the early Integrity splits I've been picking up lately. This time Integrity are paired with the rather obscure Lockweld. These guys play experimental/ambient tracks made with various equipment, including power-tools! It looks like HT hosts a site for Lockweld, but one that is not well maintained. A track called "circular saw preview" should be playing, but the address for the mp3 doesn't exist anymore..

As per usual with splits, each band has one side of the cover for their artwork. The integrity side is probably the plainest Integrity artwork I've seen, with the band's skull logo on a black background. That's all I can say really.

The Lockweld artwork has a bit more going on, although not an awful lot more. In the left-hand corner there is the band name in a silhouette of a circular saw. I'm pretty sure I've seen another lockweld record on Ebay that was actually in this shape, instead of the normal circle. If I am indeed correct, that would make for one awesome record, even if the record is a tad obscure for my liking. The title of this side of the split, "Serenity of the Once Lost", looks as if it is written using Wordart from MWord, which I haven't seen used in anything for a while now. Underneath this there are various effects that appear to be sparks, which'll refelct how much these guys enjoy their powertools. 

I don't know of the total pressings information, but I know at least one other variant of this exists out there; a silver picture disc version limited to just 500. I had an opportunity to pick one of those up recently, but instead had to settle for this cheaper regular black version. I'm not sure how many of these were pressed in total, there are no numbers to be seen on this.

Inside the cover are two pages, again one each for the two bands. There is not a lot to say about these either really; they each have a picture of the band members with thanks to various people/groups.

This record contains three songs; two by Integrity and one by Lockweld, in fact all songs were new to me upon buying this. The first of Integrity's is "Divinity In Exile", which is the usual brand of metallic hardcore. You'll definitely notice some different elements though, elements that bring to mind tracks from the infamous "Closure" album. "Fear: The True Name Of Beauty" is next, which takes a route similar to Psywarfare tracks.
The only track Lockweld bring is 'Serenity of the Once Lost". This is a very experimental electronic track, which to be honest I found hard to get into. Perhaps it just needs another listen or two.