Powerful and heady
So many of my favourite bands sprung to mind when listening to this album, which could make one fear the review may have become nothing more than a list of references, which is not exactly fun to read and makes for a cheap write up. To sum up, We'll Go Machete have a touch of Quicksand, Jawbox and These Arms Are Snakes about them, amongst others we could mention (including the main riff on 'D M Barringer' which immediately makes one think of the main riff from 'Breaking the Back' by Million Dead, but it's OK, we'll let that them have that one this time).
However, just because we're name dropping it doesn't mean we don't appreciate what this band have here; the strong, memorable guitars and bass are the first things that grab you about this album, often hypnotic in their looping nature, the chunky riffs and powerfully strummed chords really make an impact from the start and pack all the tunes with a warm undertone.
The 90s vibe is clear early on and the record has post-hardcore written all over it, never a bad thing if you like that kind of thing (which we do). Vocally we get a high toned shout which matches well with the occasional blast of quirky and jagged but means if melodic 'sung' vocals are your thing you probably won't approve, nevertheless, the machete mob manage to cram in a ton of hooks, so that tracks like the brilliant 'Good Morning Munroe' strong opening track 'Miser' and the memorable 'Robber Baron' pull you in.
This album isn't really a grower as such as you'll either know whether you love it or hate it straight away, however, with repeated listens it gets better and better, spilling more of it's intricate, powerful and heady guts every time.