Job For A Cowboy

Genesis

[4.5/5] It’s pretty impressive that this quintet from the sun-scorched deserts of Arizona wrote their debut EP Doom while still in high school and in the few short years since, toured North America and Europe several times over. But what’s more impressive is Job For A Cowboy’s cacophonous music-a lashing, surgically precise brand of vomi-rock that makes us want to don a 10-gallon hat and apply for this grind of a job. Vocalist Jonny Davy’s sea-lion roar rumbles perfectly over 10 tracks of hammer drill drums and buzzsaw guitars, making this one of the most memorable and standout debuts on Metal Blade in a long time. One small gripe: The lead guitar work stumbles on tracks like “Embedded,” making us wish the band never parted ways with former wunderkind guitarist Andrew Acurio. Lyrically, there’s more depth than your run-of-the-mill über-hesher obsession with Shocking Menu DVDs and the latest Cock And Ball Torture album-songs like “Martyrdom Unsealed” and “Reduced To Mere Filth” call foul against religion systems while warning of an imminent apocalypse, an event we’re sure JFAC would willingly pen the soundtrack for. Sounds like a job for you-know-who. (METAL BLADE) Casey Lynch

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