Job for a Cowboy is not at all the name one would expect for one of the most innovative and powerful up and coming death metal groups. Hailing from small town Arizona, this powerful quintet produces some brutal and imaginative sounds on their recent release, "Genesis". Genesis serves as the group’s major label debut (courtesy of Metal Blade.) It marks not only a new era for the band, but also a culmination of styles and subgenres. The albums mixes elements of grindcore, death and thrash metal expertly; while interspersing lighter, electronic tracks like the songs ‘Upheaval’ and ‘Blasphemy’ to transition from style to style.
The technical aspects of the album will please both guitar and drum nerds alike. Bhadriraju, Thompson and Riggs' skill playing styles compliment each other wonderfully. The songs feature guitars and bass weaving back and forth as they share melody lines, throwing in riffs that would make Necrophagist say “holy shit” and execute wicked runs in unison at the climax of another song. The guitars and bass are tight, precise and mixed perfectly with the drums and vocals. The drums will remind many of Timeline’s work on Dying Fetus’ War of Attrition, or Mike Smith’s work with Suffocation. Sellers shifts from the traditional blast beats to crazy mixes of crashing cymbals and thundering bass drum. He uses unexpected fills and unique bass drum patterns to accentuate the songs; instead of merely playing along with the guitars, Sellers actually makes the drums a part of each songs melody. The final and equally impressive part of this album is the vocals. Davy delivers a fierce, rich growl that would put any screamo poser in their place.Though many fans have complained that there aren’t enough shrieks and “out of control” screams from him, the vocals are still quite effective. It seems that Davy was trying to hone his sound on this album, focusing on a complex and deep sound, instead of just doing anything that popped into his head. His sounds range from a very powerful bass growl to a wail that seems to be coming from a chain-smoking banshee. In the first track of the CD, ‘Bearing the Serpent’s Lamb’, he shifts back and forth between styles, making the song twice as ferocious and complex.
This album is killer. Though it may not be exactly what die-hard Job for a Cowboy fans are looking for, it’s still an impressive album to check out. At roughly half an hour in length, Genesis consolidates the band’s best qualities into a series of cutting edge tunes that are catchy, technical and heavy as a “shovel headed kill machine” plowing through a field of corpses.
8.5/10
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