JOB FOR A COWBOY
That name. I'm not going to dwell on it, because countless other articles have focussed, sometimes too heavily, on their choice of moniker. Sadly, it is the most original element of the album I am reviewing. Job For A Cowboy (from now on JFAC) hail from the birthplace of Death Metal (if we assume Possessed created the genre - and this may lead to some intense debate of course). However, the United States have also given us New Kids On The Block. Why reference such an extreme juxtaposition? I guess it's the feeling that JFAC are something of a 'Teen Demographic Focussed Death Metal Band'. I'm not implying that JFAC are the product of an American S/A/W Production Line. However, there is an air of a manufactured sound to this album. Certainly, their sound has changed since their earlier works. Bands do develop quite early of course, settling into a sound truly their own. JFAC, though, don't seem to have a sound of their own. If there was a 'Modern Technical Death Metal for Dummies' book, 'Genesis' would have been created with it firmly in mind. Sure, the quality of the production is sublime, and the performance very much polished. But then, the same applies to McFly. I simply cannot listen to this album again. There is nothing going on that warrants further attention. No hook to leave you in wonder. No sense of passion. No feeling that JFAC have created the album that reflects their obvious love of the genre. Don't get me wrong, this is not an appalling album, in the sense that it beggars belief how it got passed the A&R guys. In fact, it's the A&R guys that have possibly caused this to happen the way it has. For that reason alone, it sits for me in that awful limbo that is 'average'.
LABEL:
FORMAT:
Metal Blade Records
Album
GENESIS
Review by Steve Cowan
RUNNING TIME:
30:41
RELEASE DATE:
21st May 2007
TRACK LISTING
1) Bearing the Serpents Lamb
2) Reduced to Mere Filth
3) Altered From Catechization
4) Upheaval
5) Embedded
6) Strings of Hypocrisy
7) Martyrdom Unsealed
8) Blasphemy
9) The Divine Falsehood
10) Coalescing Prophecy
2) Reduced to Mere Filth
3) Altered From Catechization
4) Upheaval
5) Embedded
6) Strings of Hypocrisy
7) Martyrdom Unsealed
8) Blasphemy
9) The Divine Falsehood
10) Coalescing Prophecy
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
USA
"...the quality of the production is sublime, and the performance very much polished. But then, the same applies to McFly."