Shockwave--The Ultimate Doom
Packaging--
The good:
As with any release that Dave Quiggle does the artwork for, this is a fantastic looking album. The cover is cool, it's got the camoflauge thing going with drawings representing the six members. The booklet has lyrics, some cryptic photos of the band (I may be wrong but I don't think these guys ever show their faces) and some more very nice artwork..mostly green and yellow tones. Very nice. CD-ROM bonus is a video for the title track.
The bad:
I like Quiggle's work, so I can't say anything bad about this one.
The music:
The good:
Apparently most, if not all, of the lyrics this band has are about Transformers. I never got into that show for some reason, so I don't really "get" a lot of the deep references. There are lots of sound clips which I assume are from that cartoon. Musically we have hardcore that...well this band has guys from xDisciplex AD. So that would be a fair comparison. I'd say this is mid-90s sounding hardcore. Huge sounding, heavy breakdowns, growled vocals (it sounds like three vocalists to me).
This style of music can be fairly generic, which can be blamed on the fact that this was "the" style of hardcore not too long ago...every band sounded like this. So, why do I think this one stands above most of the others? The production is huge, the songs are catchy, and the lyrics are fun. That may sound strange because when you read them they're rather violent, but the thing is, these guys aren't singing about being tough or getting screwed over by sellouts or whatever. They're singing about a cartoon...so that's why "we will attack without respect, none will escape from this nightmare" is fun. I also like the multiple vocalist approach with this style...all three are gruff yellers...one sounds like Dwid from Integrity (I don't think it is, but he sounds like him), the other two are standard barkers. I think it adds some different layers to the music and does set it apart.
The bad--
While this is above average in terms of songwriting, it still does get a bit monotonous. It's definitely not bad and I think it may just be good enough to convince people on the fence. A band like this couldn't put out a 60 minute album, it would be too much. But kept short and sweet, and you have a winner.
Recap�
Excellent mid-90s style hardcore...if you're into that, you'll like this. If you're into that and watched Transformers as a kid, you'll be in heaven.
More info?
The band has a nice website with mp3s and lyrics at www.hxc.com/shockwave
Review by Chris
