THE GOOD!

"Ultimatum are a great band…that stick to traditional speed metal. Symphonic Extremities is a feast of true metal that could satisfy the biggest appetite…the opening track has guitaring so fast that I thought the dudes hand would’ve fallen off…this is cool speed metal, folks. "Black Light" and "Fatal Delay" are my two favorites and I find vocalist Scott Waters at his best here. He has a unique singing talent. It’s good to see a band sticking to original metal…I didn’t think there was any til I heard this. Buy "Symphonic Extremities" of be tortured by four PEARL JAM record. This is the Ultimatum I give to you."
-PJ Wilson, Wreathe of Thorns, Issue #2

"Man I really dig classic metal music. This CD is packed with it too. Now this CD came out in early 1997, and yes Ultimatum are working on having a new CD out by summer, but I still wanted to review this. The CD open with the title track that shreads off this CD at break neck speeds. Steve Trujillo and Robert Gutierrez handle the guitar work throughout the album with incredible ability and technicality. Tons of ripping, squealing guitar solos just accentuate their abilities. E.N.D. is the third track and this song opens up on the heavy side with full on crunchy guitars and some seriously solid drumming by Mike Lynch. The initials of this song stand for Erroneous Notion of Death, and is appropriately about suicide. They low edged heaviness of this song really creates a spooky atmosphere and is definitely one of my favorite tacks on the CD. The ending of this song is still shreading as it fades out to silence, very cool.
     Vocally Ultimatum is very original. I can't think of any band that has vocals that sound like Scott Waters'. Somewhat high pitched, yet still very abrasive and angry, these vocals fit so well to the songs it's shocking.
Production quality of this CD is high but not the absolute best it could have been. There are a few songs where the mixing seems to have suffered a bit and portions of the music get drowned out. This is rare, and in fact seems to happen on E.N.D. with the vocals but I still consider this one of my favorite tracks. 11 tracks of pure metal music, if your into heavy metal this is CD for you. You will find this sucker in your CD player more than you care to think about."
-D. Lister, The DEAD E-ZINE

"If the 80’s gave us the Bay Area sound, then Ultimatum is an oasis in the desert in the 90s. Forget the ratings of the past…this power/thrash band turned in a potent ten song demo that has much better sonics than the second generation five song pre-release they sent, making this 10 song tape much more convincing. The guitar solos are a bit anti-climatic, however, the songs are strong enough to make one yearn for repeated listens…Ultimatum can be considered a future reckoning force in heavy metal."
-Rick Pizzo, Metal Crusade, Issue #2

"Symphonic Extremities is a tight album… the music balances heavy, distorted rhythms, blazing leads and pleasant melodies"
-David De Soto, HM Magazine

This is a Christian band, I have no problem with that and you shouldn’t either. These guys can jam! Ultimatum’s new music is heavy and relentless and the vocals are a cross between Bon Scott & Dave Mustaine. "
-Chuck Baxter, Baxter’s Anti-Zine

"Right off the bat "Symphonic Extremities" and "Blink" got me going. The other tunes aren’t bad but don’t quite measure up to those hits. Ultimatum unabashedly proclaiming their metal nature come out with a thrashing, big guitar, double bass release called "Symphonic Extremities." It’s awesome to hear true metal these days when this style of music is forced underground and renders it hard to find...the vocals are a cross between Tom Denlinger of SARDONYX and, of all people, Dave Mustaine of MEGADETH, this is the weakness in songs like "The Killing Fields" but the strengths in "Symphonic Extremities" and "Blink." This indie is not for trendlords but for the truly metallic in heart."
-Phil Powell, Screams of Abel, Issue #9

"From the first time you put this in you know your in for some true metal; and metal with hear at that….their style kind of takes me back to my roots to that mixture of thrash and good old head banging metal….the vocals are very clear. Scott Waters has great range to his voice, from growls to aggressive screams and all in between. I know some have said he sounds like EXODUS, I kind of agree, but I think he also reminds me of Udo from ACCEPT. Killer Man! I have a few favorites on this on, the first being the title cut. Which kicks this off with true extremities…Great job on this one guys!"
-Stephan Soto, Narrow Path, Issue 5

"ULTIMATUM is a christian band, if that doesn’t bother you then you might like this CD. The guitar riffs are hard, this singer has a solid voice, they sound a little bit like SLAYER. If you can get your hands on this CD. Check out track 1, 3, 7, and 10. From a scale of 1-10, 1 being a dud, 10 being totally kick ass, I’d give this disc an 8+."
- Jerry Walter, Berzerker, Issue 6

"…one day I receive a tape from a NM act which goes by the name ULTIMATUM … Symphonic Extremities is a 10 song output of what the band deems "true metal" and it is implied in their letter that they don’t want anything to do with death or any form of "modern" rock. I can respect that, but when going through the band’s positive sampling of material, I am greeted with something that is very traditional in nature, although not musically fresh in the slightest. Musically a number of speed metal bands come to mind, while the vocals parallel those of EXODUS’ Zetro Souza with that whiney sneer, and on the song "Megaton" he has an uncanny resemblance to AC/DC’s Bon Scott."
-Marco Barbieri, Metal Maniacs, February, 1997

"Ultimatum has succeeded in producing a product which defies the monotony of many heavy metal musicians. The music is tight and diverse, the lyrical content is wrought with conviction, which is inevitable when speaking one’s beliefs. Luckily a lyrics sheet was included, otherwise we wouldn’t have known what he was saying. Unfortunately this is another demo tape that has fallen prey to the Production Gremlin. The overall sound is muddy and the snare sounds like an overtuned tom, however, the musicianship and the lyrical ideas help you to overlook this and spark the thought process."
-MicLine, Vol. 9 #8, Sept. 1995

"This is the re-mastered CD version of their original 10 song (independent) tape, with a bonus cut. They’ve really done the music justice by doing this. ULTIMATUM’s brand of straight forward metal comes out much clearer. This evangelistic band brings forth the power of God’s might through my stereo speaker…if you want to hear some excellent top of the line, Spirit-filled, oldschool, metal, then get this."
-Joe Wheeler, Xccentric Zine, #2

Ultimatum: Symphonic Extremities (JukeBox Media) What do we have here? Albuquerque raises a band who plays Bay Area thrash - beating the living *** I won't say what *** out of most of the real Bay Area bands. Man this stuff is great! Who says that metal is dying? The production, the riffs, the lyrics.. EXTREMELY GOOD, although Scott Waters' Exodus/AC-DC/JimmyBrown/early Ozzy/whatever-ish vocals do get on my nerve from time to time. What else can I say? ULTIMATUM rules!
-Illuminator Zine, Issue 2

THE BAD! THE UGLY!