Machete Justice - Reversion   

New Zealand based metal aims for justice!

Machete Justice hails from New Zealand, a small country where not many metal/rock bands herald from. But, Machete Justice are driven to put themselves on the map, and they attempt to do so with their solid, independent effort of 'Reversion’. To hear 'Reversion' is to almost hear two bands at once. Once side of Machete Justice is hard and heavy thrash/ groove metal and the other a more melodic, but equally hard rock style. The heavy metal tracks like "Eyes on the Crown" and "Reckless" feature fast, churning riffs and excellent drumming with melody weaved in between and a bit of a southern rock influence, but not too slow and doom oriented. Here traces from bands like One Man Army and the Undead Quartet to Minushuman can be heard, either in the music or vocals. Then there are the more rock oriented tracks such as "The Ballad of Bubba J. White" which sounds like a huge contrast features catchy hooks and anthem powered choruses right behind slightly distorted vocals which sound almost southern themselves; certainly different from the heavy metal roaring. Some might even consider them akin to bands like Alter Bridge, except with a heavier sound. The other tracks like "Devil in My Veins" and "Death of the Border" mixes the two together for an excellent semi-melodic death thrash track so there is a great balance between the two sides so fans to can get their fill of both angry and melodic.

Perhaps the biggest surprise on 'Reversion' is the acoustic "Waiata Ua (Rain Song)" which is just a brief instrumental, but comes way out of left field for anyone who didn't expect it. Listeners will already be surprised enough by the mix of hard rock and heavy metal on the album (when separate), but this takes the cake. It serves as a perfect intro or outro so the band did well at placing it at the end as it acts as a great cool down after all the heavy parts. It is also cool to see a bit of organic 'New Zealand' flavour to the music as well. Overall, both heavy metal and rock fans are going to enjoy this band a lot. It's just a start, but Machete Justice could expand into something a lot more as long as they keep going at it. The unique two sides to this group will always give them an edge, but only if they keep it balanced.

(Independent)