With their latest effort "Makeshift Grey", Unjust have managed to compose 11 tracks of furious distorted rage that impale the listener with versatile tenacity and bulldozing aggression. After only a few spins, it comes as no surprise that this 5 piece hail from the bay area of California, as their sound is heavily inspired by their peers, knocking out the kind of sludgy in your face metalcore that fellow residents Skinlab and Machine Head pioneered, along with a generous helping of the paranoid, devious croons made famous by Faith No More. They don't stop there however, also going on to add in some of the haunting song writing skills of the likes of Metallica and tacking on some keyboards and programming that can bring to mind a lite version of nine inch nails or American Head Charge.

Like a perfect cross between Machine Head's Robert Flynn and Faith No More's Mike Patton, band vocalist-programmer-guitarist Paul Mendoza snarls out his words like a pitbull, tearing through stomping verses and choruses, only to erupt into a whirlwind of daze inducing verbal melody that bolsters the diversity of the album tenfold. Using a two guitar approach, the group trudge through an array of muddy riffs that implement a sort of Korn reminiscent tuning scheme, keeping the high end searing and vicious. But rather than play themselves out with trivial new metal heroics, the duo instead aim towards Skinlab reminiscent riffs, which gives the music a boost of the infamous brawling Bay Area sound. Bass wise, the album is layered with thick plodding notes that somehow retain order while sounding both dropped down and menacingly detached. The drum work captured is a bit more of a focused affair, using a fairly loose playing style that nicely compliments the guitar work, while simultaneously pounding out an array of oddly timed beats that ferociously buildup energy underneath the surface. Capped off by an undercurrent of haunting synth like keyboard work and subtle touches of quirky programming that hook deep within the listeners subconscious, the music is indeed an interesting pill to swallow.

Interestingly enough, despite the brutish nature of their influences the bands music is fairly accessible, especially with tracks like "Come Feel Me", which are jarringly heavy, yet melodic enough to possibly warrant radio play. It's an edgy ride and perhaps a bit darker than most metal efforts out there right now, mainly due to the constant downward motions that the plunging rhythms in each song generate as they progress on. There's a solid amount of variety and the band can slow things down just as easy as they speed them up, bolstering a substantial amount of dynamic appeal within their song writing. However, there is a tendency for the material to somewhat stay in the same end of the idea pool, causing a slight slump midway through the disc. Still, as a whole, its not too much of a con to seriously hinder the band, because overall the bulk of the tracks contained here are more than worthy of the attention of any metal fan who wants to explore music that avoids the current trends and corporate traps to instead take its own bite out of a scene that has slightly languished in recent years. Unjust are a band who's music is anything but "makeshift", in fact at times it can even be a bit cerebral. Its viscerally intense, passionate and above all is not easily categorized, making it a step above the numerous black and white, copycat acts out there who are currently trying to get their break.