Job for a Cowboy – Genesis
Metal Blade Records – May 15, 2007
By Jason Jordan
Largely known as yet another
MySpace phenomenon, Arizona’s ill-titled
Job for a Cowboy broke into the metal scene with 2005’s
Doom EP, which set the stage for this year’s
Genesis. While the pig growls and breakdowns are gone,
Genesis is a 31-minute slice of serviceable, if forgettable, death metal that is simply underwhelming, especially in light of recent, likeminded releases.
All name-related jokes aside,
Job for a Cowboy are proficient musicians, but the songs themselves are generic, and thus difficult to recall. Sure,
‘Bearing the Serpents Lamb’ sprints out of the gate in an aggressive manner, as do
‘Reduced to Mere Filth’ and
‘Altered from Catechization,’ yet the lot of them don’t have enough personality to warrant repeated listens. Except for ambient interludes
‘Upheaval’ and
‘Blasphemy’ – which, if excluded from the time, brings
Genesis down to less than 28 minutes –
JfaC play incredibly fast a la
Beneath the Massacre. Or, as
‘The Divine Falsehood’ and
‘Coalescing Prophecy’ prove, they slow down the respective tempos to a point that it steals focus away from the tune itself, which could be a result of odd song placement. Still, as a whole,
Genesis elapses too fast to remember much of anything about it, but to be fair, it’s not as if there are numerous, distinguishing characteristics in the first place.
Honestly, I can’t justify spending money on
Genesis because it’s merely competent when optimally it should be something special. Great album gets overlooked enough, so skip this in favor of one.
Official Job for a Cowboy Website
Official Metal Blade Records Website
