Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ultimatum's Best Effort Yet, January 28, 2008
Over the past years I've been re-introduced to many thrash bands I lost track of over the years. This can be attributed to my discovery of [...]. Scott Water's metal collection is like nothing I've seen before and when I found out he was the vocalist of Ultimatum I was stunned to say the least. I had known about Ultimatum for many years though only a few songs here and there and liked what I heard. Unfortunately, their albums became increasingly difficult to find until now. Retroactive has made their previous albums available and though I didn't like them as much as many other thrash bands I was familiar with, it was still good quality thrash. Now with the release of Into The Pit, Ultimatum went from good thrash band to great thrash band (up there with Touniquet, Deliverance, Testament, Overkill, Vengeance Rising, and more). This is how thrash should be. Thundering double bass drums, shredding guitar solos, and aggressive vocals abound and I don't think any thrash fan wouldn't like this album. In previous reviews the only complaint I ever heard was Scott's vocals. I never understood it, Scott's voice is very unique and fit the music real well (sort of a mix of Bobby Blitz and Steve Souza). This time his vocals should cause those nay sayers to put their foot in their mouth with the power and aggressiveness of his vocals this time around (now he sounds similar to Obituary's John Tardy while maintaining his unique voice).
One For All: Great Overkill-like opening that starts the album off in grand thrash fasion. 4/5
Exonerate: Keeps the aggressiveness going while maintaining good melody. 4/5
Death Wish: Another great thrash song (notice a pattern here). 4/5
Blood Covenant: Still nothing to complain about. The guitar solos are even better this time around (it's nice for thrash guitarists to slow down now and then) and the melody is more noticable here. 4.5/5
Heart Of Metal: One of the best songs on this album. Awesome double bass work right before the chorus with lyrics that makes this a metal anthem of the highest order (I rank this with Toxic Waltz which is one of my favorite thrash songs ever). 5/5
Wrathchild: Great cover of an Iron Maiden classic with guitar solos that run you over like an semi-truck. 4.5/5
Transgressor: Not as great as the three before it but still a very solid thrash song. 3.5/5
Blink: A re-recording of a song origionally found on Symphonic Extremeties. Quite better than the origional which is no easy task (it's superiority is probably due to the better production). 4.5/5
Blind Faith: Another great thrash piece with lyrics that put a broad smile on this Christian's face. Guitarist Robert Gutierrez has no idea how to do a bad guitar solo. 4.5/5
Into The Pit: Hands down the best track on the entire album. This instrumental ranks up there with Metallica's Orion. Gutierrez shows that he is more than a one-dimentional thrash guitarist (he should be up there with the greats based on this song alone-superb solo). 5/5
Game Over: Another great thrash piece and a good way to close an album that should rank up there with the biggest names in thrash...nay, metal. 4/5
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Snap Your Neck, November 25, 2007
If you've wondered if there's any metal in the world untainted by the new metal or core trends, Ultimatum is here to answer. And the answer might make you get a migraine as you attempt to whirl you hair at 1,000 miles an hour. They fly the freak flag of metal high and seem darned proud to do it. Into the Pit brings Ultimatum up to levels that comparisons to Tourniquet, early Deliverance, even an Exodus or Testament would not make people blink. The production levels are stellar, with enough rawness to please the thrash purist yet letting each instrument shine. Machine gun riffing, uber fast drumming and a vocalist who sounds like he eats nails, (from the looks of him I think he might) all the hints of greatness on past albums come together to form one awesome package. The songs are strong,all of them, tackling issues and no holds are barred lyrically, letting you know they stand for truth and the love of God. How I wish radio would find these guys and have the guts to put this into rotation. Real metal that needs to be heard. Anyone into heavy music owes it to themselves to check this out. Just have the aspirin handy.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ultimatum at the top of their game...., October 11, 2007
I'm always worried when I get a new CD I've been looking forward to for so long. Was I right to be worried? Maybe sometimes, but not in this case! Three spins in the first afternoon/evening after arrival and some things are very clear to me. Let me explain:
Tight as a drum and hands down the best Ultimatum vocals yet - variation and range I've not heard before. I love Heart of Metal...it's a great re-do of an already great song. Did I say the band was tight?
Other highlights for me (among an overall consistent album) are Exonerate, Deathwish and Blind Faith. Great sounding songs with the right mix of heavy riffs, stylish solos and pounding rhythm. Into The Pit is a very catchy instrumental as well.
This is how I like my thrash....rompy, kind of just makes you want to whirl around and grow super long hair!
I don't like to give 5 stars (it seems too easy, the lazy way out) but I think it's unethical to give less than 5 when the work truly merits it. That's like the jerk sports writers who don't vote guys into the Hall Of Fame on the first try just because of some silly belief that no one deserves to be praised unanimously. That's foolish! If you like Thrash metal, you'll find a 5 star CD right here.
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