I’ve been dreading this one; my gut has been rumbling about it, a lot. Telling me incessantly that this record is not going to live up to expectations and although I try my best not to listen to my gut, especially when it comes to music, not often is it wrong. Ever since seeing this band support Unearth back in March it was set, that being the moment when this record would eventually make its way into my musical rotation. What I feared was that it was going to be a crushing disappointment, the epitome of hype over talent. This fear was sown due to the sound of the material aired at that Unearth show, and the impression stirred was not a good one, alleviated further by when they played their older material it sound fresher, more vibrant and just more convincing then their new creations.

Once again, my gut was right.

Whilst Genesis, is not a bad record by any means (in fact in places it’s reasonably enjoyable) it doesn’t warrant, in fact doesn’t downright deserve the hype that it has been generating. Now, other more esteemed writers then myself (no names) have been throwing around some rather grandiose and in my eyes ludicrous accusations concerning this band. One being that they attempt to scale the grandiose, epic heights set by Nile, well that is garbage. There is only one band on the planet that sounds like those Egyptian obsessed luminaries and that is themselves, Job For A Cowboy do not at any stage attempt to produce death metal as technical and above all, as graceful as Nile, in fact trying to bring that band into the discourse is unfair to Job For A Cowboy.

Anyway I digress.

In a nutshell, Genesis, is a polite, even slightly fluffy death metal record, but in spite of this and to those who deny the band’s affiliation with the genre, this is a death metal record as it contains key constituents of the genre’s paradigms. Shit, the band show throughout the record that they do have potential, particularly in the moody ‘Reduced to Mere Filth,’ featuring the only moments where the band veer towards a breakdown (nestled at the track’s conclusion). Furthermore ‘The Divine Falsehood,’ shows the band treading territory that would have been unthinkable in their Doom, incarnation. It’s a slow, burning track introduced by a creepy, slithering Sabbath dirge riff that pulls along the weight of the band’s heaviness. However, it remains suspended in this dirge and after the opening 2 minutes it begins to overstay its welcome.

Thus there are two salient problems that hinder the band. The first being that stand out moments are way too sporadic and too often the band allow their riffs and ideas to mesh into a homogenous soup that harmlessly seeps along, blending from track to track. Even the ambient interludes provided by ‘Upheaval,’ and ‘Blasphemy,’ add to this, even though I’m sure they were included to break up the flow.

Regardless, my rumblings won’t counter the fact that this band is hot shit right now, I mean, it would have been downright unthinkable for an album like this selling as many copies as it has done in the late 90s (and before any of you start saying Slipknot, to their credit, Job For A Cowboy have included no fluffy, hooky, MTV2 songs) and whilst my gut was right, this record has not lived up to its lofty billing and public relations, I do feel that if they stick with it, then Job For A Cowboy could make some more invigorating music in the future.

[Visit the band's website]

---

Comments