Ever since debut EP ‘Doom’ knocked the metal community for six back in 2005, Job For A Cowboy have been creating a nice little niche for themselves in this particular genre. With peers like Suicide Silence basically aping early Korn now and with Despised Icon gone, the crown of deathcore is theirs for the taking. However, ‘Demonocracy’ sees them get rather too complacent in the position they find themselves in.
As with previous full-length ‘Ruination’, this is a marked decline from debut full length ‘Genesis’ – their polished, post-Decapitation groove is well-covered ground with these Arizonians, but there’s very little in terms of invention and scope to be found here. Early tracks like ‘Nourishment Through Bloodshed’, ‘Imperium Wolves’ and ‘Black Discharge’ slay in all the right places and ‘Tongueless And Bound’ is a personal highlight that pulsates with an urgency not felt since the aforementioned debut.
All things considered, they have some great ideas here – parts of ‘The Manipulation Stream’ sound like Opeth without the interesting proggy bits – and this is also their most impressive effort technically, the ever-changing personnel behind sole remaining founding member Jonny Davy forming a cohesive unit with the odd flash of truly impressive fretwork.
This, however, is a very self-assured record, to its detriment. Job For A Cowboy become victims of their own plaudits, and fail to really grasp ways to turn this tired genre on its head. By the time ‘Tarnished Gluttony’ plods to the finishing line like an obese teenager forced to do cross-country in his pants, you are almost grateful the album stands at just 9 tracks and 40 minutes in length. For a band considered to be the most exciting thing in extreme metal when ‘Genesis’ arrived on our plates, this is a real challenge to get through just two albums further down the line. It’s not a completely pointless, directionless meander like recent Obituary records and existing fans will find a lot to love here, but instead of changing the blueprint, Job For A Cowboy may have here sounded the death knell for all that is brutal.
OLLIE CONNORS