In Cold Blood “Suicide King” demo

Alright, without further ado, here it is, the unreleased "Suicide King" EP from In Cold Blood. These seven songs were recorded sometime after "Hell on Earth" (probably in 1999, I'm not entirely sure) with two different lineups, but more on that in a minute:

1. Suicide King
2. Fuck Your Opinion
3. Polluted
4. Straight Flush
5. Dogma
6. Ease the Pain
7. Empty

The core lineup on all of these songs is Lenny Melnick on bass, Aaron Melnick on guitar, and Blaze on guitar. "Suicide King" and "Polluted" were recorded by the Melnicks and Bourbon in Cleveland with Bourbon doing the vocals and an unknown drummer (not the same guy who played on the full-length). Just so you know, Bourbon is the guy that sang on the debut In Cold Blood 7", another record that most people don't seem to know exists. Go figure. The rest of the tracks were recorded by Blaze and Danny Lax in Columbus with Danny handling the drums and Blaze handling the vocals. Obviously these songs are a little different from the full-length without Jason Popson's presence, but for the most part the style is still the same (Though what's up with all the old school Swedish death metal riffing in "Straight Flush"!?).

I really have no idea what the deal was with these sessions at all, as far as whether or not this was just supposed to be a demo, or if there were any kind of tentative release plans, etc. It seems like very few people know that this material even exists, and the only reason I even know about it is because Danny got in touch with me and sent me a dub of the songs many years ago when I used to do Integrity's website, which I greatly appreciate to this day. It's a damn shame the songs went nowhere, but it will be interesting for some to note that Blaze recycled "Ease the Pain" and "Empty" in their entirety as "Lost Without You" and "Burn it Down" (respectively) on Integrity's "To Die For" EP, the latter of which receiving a lyrical facelift from Dwid.

I used to think these seven songs were possibly the last that the Melnicks ever recorded, but I recently discovered that Aaron is presently in some band from New York (with Bourbon and a few other Cleveland transplants) called the Wolfdowners. If anyone knows anything about that shit get in touch and fill me the fuck in. Those dudes are sorely missed and seemed to vanish almost without a trace. Integrity was never the same after "Seasons in the Size of Days" and I still find "Hell on Earth" to be a severely underrated record that's an extremely close second to even the finest material from Integrity's heyday. Good stuff. Hope you enjoy the unreleased EP.