There was a time during my childhood when my after-school hours were dominated by sitting in front of the television to catch the latest episode of Transformers. It was my love for the show that prompted me to spend every penny I earned buying up Transformers toys. Fortunately I am able to relive those days vicariously by listening to The Ultimate Doom, the latest release from the mysterious hardcore kingpins Shockwave.
Since the bands inception in 1996, Shockwave has released a slew of recordings including a live CD that captures one of the bands rare performances from their tour of Europe. Little is known about the individuals that comprise this "super-group" other than the fact that they have quite a fixation of the television show that they take their namesake from. Everything else about Shockwave is on a need to know basis. And frankly, all you need to know is that Shockwave plays some of the best metallic hardcore there is.
The album opens with the sample loaded "Introduction to Oblivion" informing us that "this is your world, tear it apart." And Shockwave does just that with an album filled with quality fast-paced hardcore. The title track "The Ultimate Doom" is filled with aggressive chug-chug guitars and rapid drumming similar to that of Figure Four and xDisciplex AD. Tracks like "Day of the Machines," "Divide and Conquer," and "Grenade Face" follow the same formula, and like the saying goes, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Obviously Shockwave abides by this and with good reason. They have the perfect mix of punk-influenced hardcore like Sick of it All and metallic hardcore like Strife. The vocal tandem of Callahan and Biff Justice provide contrasting screaming and spoken yelling, while the enlistment of additional combatants provide support through excellent gang vocals. For those who have never heard Shockwave prior to this release, it will be refreshing to know solid hardcore bands still exist, and for those who have been waiting for this album since the band last went on hiatus, its been a long time coming. But as "Five Faces of Darkness" declares, "we are back in full effect," and that is the truth. Perhaps the only weak point of The Ultimate Doom is that it lacks the strong lyrical content of its predecessors. On Dominicon and Autohate, Shockwave were fixed on discussing the topics of straight-edge and religion. The Ultimate Doom instead is more adamant to cover the war between Autobots and Decepticons in a first person demeanor, which may be fun, but can at times seems rather ridiculous.
Rather than sum up everything that I have said into a neat little package of a concluding paragraph I decided it would be better to leave you with a sample used on the bands 7". Feel free to read into however you like. "Remember, there is a thin line between being hero and being a memory."
