Released on the label that brought you the first Brand New album, this album can come as quite a shock. Then again, the title coupled with the pictures of the band wearing bandanas over their mouths and names like “Biff Justice†and “Scrapiron†sets the scene for an incredibly vicious hardcore assault.
The vocalist (I have no idea what his name is) sounds very much like Lou Koller of Sick Of It All while he screams along to a soundtrack of mid-paced hardcore riffs and drum pounding. There is no let up on this album until the very end. Every track is take-no-shit, supremely pissed-off hardcore, until the hidden track hits you with inventive acoustic guitar picking and what sounds like a sample of a film. There are a few other samples throughout the album that work well to break the monotony of the vocalist screaming at you. Shockwave respect the old values of hardcore and metal but have a fresh take on the genre, with their sci-fi influenced approach. There are song titles such as ‘The Key To Vector Sigma’ and ‘Day Of The Machines’, similar to Coheed and Cambria, but there sure-as-hell aren’t any high-pitched warblings by anyone with a Mexican name.
If you like your hardcore to beat your skull with iron bars (metaphorically of course) then you’ll appreciate this album. If you like melodies then this isn’t for you, but ‘The Ultimate Doom’ stands up as a worthy addition to the hardcore/metal-core scene.
http://www.hxc.com/shockwave
Ben Gosling