The Next Metal Thread

**Subrick** · Joined: 22 Mar 2008 Posts: 1296 Location: Terryville, CT

This is a review that I wrote for Sputnikmusic earlier today. The album I'm reviewing is Job for a Cowboy's Genesis. Why am I posting it here? I dunno. I just want to. Enjoy.

http://www.sputnikmusic.com/album.php?reviewid=33218

4.5
superb

Summary: Job for a Cowboy's first full length album is a rather good album of modern death metal. Despite it's repetition in parts, the band keeps the listener drawn in with the excellent musicianship and amazing concept.

3 of 3 thought this review was well written

Deathcore is one of those love it or despise it genres. Many people love their precious Bring Me The Horizon and Here Comes The Kraken with elitist fervor, whist others despise any and all -core genres as if they were the Antichrist himself. Enter Job for a Cowboy. They sprung up back in 2004 with a demo that was *gasp* ORIGINAL. In 2005, they released their first proper release, "DOOM", an EP of the same, good sounding deathcore the demo gave us. In 2007, the band released their debut album. Entitled "Genesis", it's a rather good album of modern death metal. Despite it's repetition in many parts, the band keeps the listener drawn in with the excellent musicianship and entertaining concept.

The moment any fan of Job for a Cowboy turns on this album, they are greeted by a sight bizarre to them: it's not deathcore. No, Genesis eschews the breakdowns and pig squeals for a more technical death metal sound. The moment I heard the first song "Bearing the Serpent's Lamb", I was reminded of a little band from Poland called Decapitated. JFAC take a lot of influence from Decapitated here, particularly from their album Winds of Creation. Songs such as "Altered from Catechization" and "Reduced to Mere Filth" conjure up images of Decapitated in an instance. Well, at least to me. Certain people will still bash this album relentlessly due to JFAC's former genre of choice. The band retains very few elements of deathcore on this album; pig squeals which were so prevalent on the demo and DOOM are nowhere to be heard from vocalist Jonny Davy here. On the entire album there is but one breakdown, and it doesn't even really sound like a breakdown; the last minute or so of "Reduced to Mere Filth". I like to call it a "half breakdown". The song "The Divine Falsehood" is entirely different than every other song on the album; it is not mega fast, it contains no blast beats or tremolo picking, and melody is abundant within. It's a pretty good death/doom sorta song, and a really good mellow out track for those of you who like melody in their death metal.

The level of musicianship on this record is astounding. Vocalist Jonny Davy rips through his vocal cords with low pitched growls and grunts that would make Glen Benton or George Fisher blush. The guitar skills of Bobby Thompson and Ravi Bhadriraju are quite exemplary, utilizing the standard death metal guitar parts of tremolo and down picking well to their advantage. Bassist Brent Riggs is, sadly, essentially inaudible here, showing up in the mix only once and for about a second; Bearing the Serpent's Lamb. But the real spectacle here is drummer Elliot Sellers. Anyone who saw JFAC live back in their deathcore days knows about his amazing energy; smashing his kit to pieces, whiplash headbanging, and other assorted treats. On this record, though, he puts all that energy together to make one of my favorite drumming performances ever. Songs like "Coalescing Prophecy" and "Stings of Hypocrisy" make you scratch your head and wonder if it was really a human that played on this. In sort of a mixed blessing, Sellers left the band immediately after recording his parts, and this resulted in the band picking up Jon "Charn" Rice, who to me is like an American Vitek.

"Genesis" is a concept album. That's something that I've rarely seen in death metal. Do they pull it off? *** yeah they do. The album chronicles the birth of the Antichrist through the extermination of mankind. The lyrics themselves use words that the scene kids in JFAC's fanbase have more than likely never heard, including "theodicy", "catechization", and "conflagration". The aforementioned "The Divine Falsehood" is to me the most powerful song lyrically on the album. The song deals with the culmination of the album's events; the birth of the Antichrist, his ascension to power, the outlawing of religion, the implanting of the VeriChip, the world becoming a one government dictatorship, and it all ends with Satan himself coming up through the Earth to take his new kingdom. The song after it, "Coalescing Prophecy", deals with the end of humanity; Satan, now in his new domain, slaughters the last remnants of mankind, who cry out to God for mercy. To me, it's one of my favorite stories ever for an album.

But alas, not every album is perfect. The only real con of Genesis is that in multiple places, the band uses riffs or fills that were used in previous songs. The most prevalent of these is a roll used by Sellers over multiple songs on the record; 4 on tom 1, 4 on tom 2, 4 on snare, 4 on tom 2. It's a cool sounding fill, but when you hear it in "Coalescing Prophecy", the last track on the record, after having heard it in almost every track beforehand, it gets repetitive. Thankfully, that's the only one that's used to death here.

Job for a Cowboy is, much like their former genre, a band that is either love them or despise them; I fall into the love category. This record is all the proof needed that with some fine tuning, this band could be the one who revolutionizes American heavy metal. I suggest this album to any and all death metal fans. And to those who hate the band solely because of the genre of deathcore, you have no idea what you are missing,
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**Octavian** · Joined: 27 Aug 2009 Posts: 124 Location: Georgetown, TX

Lol take that deathcore haterz
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**Twang** · Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 11:29 pm Post subject:

I listened to a bit of it, but wasn't really in the mood for it. Though from what I heard, I didn't hear anything special. I don't think of Deathcore as an affront to metal as some people do, I just don't like it a whole lot, but it does have it's charms. Tech Death is a very tough genre to compete in, and I don't think their foray in to the genre will bear any notable fruits. They were obviously one of the stand-out bands in the deathcore genre and I don't know why they completely abandoned the sound leaving it in the hands of BMTH (I personally prefer their metalcore album over their deathcore one) and the like, just because some assholes called deathcore 'hella gay.'

**Octavian** · Joined: 27 Aug 2009 Posts: 124 Location: Georgetown, TX

I prefer deathcore over death metal just because it has a noticeable rythm and beat (stuff you can toe-tap to xD )

Death metal is decent and there are plenty of bands I like, most bands just blast their intruments wildly while the vocalist moans a bunch of sounds that you can't understand.

Melodeath I like because it isnt as brutal as death metal, but is still badass =p
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**Subrick** · Joined: 22 Mar 2008 Posts: 1296 Location: Terryville, CT

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**banjokazooie** · Joined: 12 Sep 2007 Posts: 1502

There's a real lack of World Painted Blood discussion in here, folks. You may be surprised at how good this album is. I realize that it's sort of been passed off because of the very meh reception of the last two albums, but I'd say that this is one of Slayer's better albums, probably tied with or ahead of Divine Intervention and definitely the best since that one. I'll do a quick little track-by-track breakdown.

1. World Painted Blood- Nice galloping riffs, the chorus has a good hook, and Tom's spoken vocals sound fucking evil. The drums are absolutely batshit, some of the best on the album. A very composed track, though it could use a little more energy for an opening track.

2. Unit 731- The best thrash song on the album. This song is right up with anything they've done since Seasons in the Abyss, one of my favorites from that era. It's fast, it's got punch, and Lombardo holds it together with some great drumming. And there are, of course, the obligatory wah-wah/whammy bar solos present as well. Doesn't hold anything back from the first beat to the last.

3. Snuff- The best Kerry King song on the record, but I don't know if that even puts it in the top 5. It starts with a solo that is exactly what Slayer solos are made fun of for sounding like, then busts into a nice verse riff with a sharp vocal melody. The chorus is very Christ Illusion, with cheesy lyrics and a brutal riff. There's a lot of cheesy vocal lines on this one, which is what you've come to expect from King. That said, this is good track to follow the first two, sort of the median in terms of balancing the thrash sound with the punkier vibe. It's also got a very cool harmony guitar part near the end that I didn't see coming.

4. Beauty Through Order- One of a few very un-Slayer like songs on this album that Jeff wrote, and it's fucking awesome. The first time I heard the album straight through, I heard about what I expected in the first three tracks, but then this thing started and that's where the album took off. It begins with a very ominous instrumental part, and then Tom enters with some haunting clean vocals. Clean vocals? Araya? WAT!? I know, but he pulls them off and it's great. There's a heavier pre-chorus part, and the chorus contains more cool clean vocals. The guitar riffs during the clean parts are great, very chilling and melodic. There's a bridge section with some great drum/guitar syncronization before a blazing solo that leads into a breakdown of sorts with some guitar licks over a stream of power chords. Then Tom comes in with his trademark gritty, demonic singing and takes the song to a cool outtro with lots of wild drum fills and another classic Slayer guitar lead before the final verse.

5. Hate Worldwide- You've all heard this one, and it's gotten mixed reviews. Personally. I enjoy this song quite a bit. I think that the riffs are good and carry that punky touch that King has trademarked in recent times. The chorus, like Snuff, is good but has incredibly cheesy lyrics. This may bug some people, but personally I think that if you want poetic lyrics in your thrash you shouldn't be turning to Slayer; though some songs on this album do have some nice lines. This track is also home to some of the best leads on the album. A solid thrasher.

6. Public Display of Dismemberment- The intro riff is one of the coolest things on this entire album, but unfortunately that energy doesn't hold up. The verse is heavy and fast, but there's something missing, the punch just isn't quite there. After the second refrain of "PUBLIC DISPLAY OF DISMEMBERMEEENT" the song goes into an Angel of Death-esque part (the "can you feel the scorpions pushing through your eyes" section) that sort of livens things up, but not long after the song ends. It's not a bad track, but nothing too memorable.

7. Human Strain- Another Hanneman-penned song that caught me off guard. It starts with a mid-tempo, heavy as hell part that has melodic guitars in the verse with the classic muted power chords in the chorus. After a bit of that it goes into a bridge with some eerie spoken stuff from Tom over Jihad intro-esque chords. This leads into the coolest vocal melody on the album, with Tom singing a high clean part that is haunting as hell and awesome. This leads back into the original verse/chorus pattern and builds to the end.

8. Americon- This song is an example of the whole being quite a bit less than the sum of its parts. The drums are a nice simple, driving beat, the guitar riffs are pretty cool throughout the whole song, the lyrics are really anti-establishment punk (Kerry King written), and the vocal melodies are fine; but there's just no bite to it. It feels lifeless, and the solo I thought to be much too slow for the rest of the song. A repeat of the Snuff intro might've revived this one a little, but in the end it just never quite came together. That said, I think if you saw them play this live it'd be great, because it is an anthem. 10,000 people screaming "AMERI-COOOON!!"? Yes please.

9. Psychopathy Red- Thank god for this song. After Americon a killer, 220 BPM thrash song is just what the album needed, and Psychopathy Red delivers 110%. After the great guitar riff and screaming chorus, the killer bass breakdown leads the song into the lengthy guitar lead trade-off between Jeff and Kerry before a slightly changed guitar riff comes up in the final verse. Tom yells at the top of his lungs in the last chorus to close it out. Fucking fantastic song.

10. Playing With Dolls- Go ahead, laugh at the title, but this is the best song on the title. Another nightmarish vocal melody opens this one up, before the chorus enters with a haunting guitar riff backing Araya's yells of "DIE IN FRONT OF ME!" The song then enters a bridge part with eerie sounds backed by a muted guitar riff. Tom comes back in with biting vocals before another chorus that leads into a heavy verse followed by a very slick guitar solo that is very Slayer. Yells of "YOU WISH YOU WERE IN HELL!" carry the track back into the heavy verse part, and the song builds into an outtro with more devilish refrains. Best song on the album.

11. Not of this God- Again, a good song, but a closer needs more bite. It's got a nice vocal part, and the riffs are thrashy and heavy, but there's just not quite the in your face-ness that songs like Unit 731 have. There's a lot of good in the first half of this song, including some nice fills and ridiculous double-bass wankery. The song then drops into a drum breakdown with a sludgy guitar riff entering on top of it with Tom coming in soon after. This part is really cool and saves the song and carries it to the last chorus that closes the album. Some very nice riffs here, solid song.

Overall, great album. A solid 8.5/10 for sure.

I got the deluxe edition so I'll watch that little DVD they slapped on later and tell you how it is.
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**AHal42** · Joined: 26 Jul 2009 Posts: 7

Im liking Arch Enemy recently....any suggestions for a starting album to buy?

**MetalheadNorm** · Joined: 21 May 2008 Posts: 554 Location: Michigan