Job for a cowboy have not always garnered praise from the extreme metal community. Their roots as a deathcore outfit did them few favours and over the years they have come in for more than a little flack from notoriously suspicious extreme metal fans. However, with the line-up almost entirely reshuffled since the bands inception (only Jonny Davy remains) JFAC have come up with the goods in a way that should see even the most cynical head at least turned. ‘Demonocracy’ will be the American death metal outfit’s third full-length release and it will, if there is any justice in this world at all, be the album that sees the band get some measure of respect. Not so much a step as a giant leap up from the band’s previous releases, this is one of those albums that packs a far greater punch than you can possibly anticipate, the multiple layers evident in the music only becoming apparent after repeated listens and the sheer manic energy eclipsing the band’s earlier works in a blaze of furious, hellish light.
There is a real sense with ‘demonocracy’ that the band have something to prove, if not to us, then to themselves, as they unleash devastatingly powerful riffs over pounding percussion and everything overtopped by intelligent, thought provoking lyrics delivered in a guttural roar that speaks of a deep-seated and unsettling rage. Opening track, ‘children of deceit’ tells you everything you need to know. It has a monumental opening riff, brilliantly fluid solos, a bravura vocal performance that simply stuns with its feverish intensity and a mid-tempo mid-section that is hope-sappingly heavy and laden with portents of doom. It’s a fantastic opening track that immediately obliterates any expectations you may have had for the album and sets it immediately on a higher plane, the sheer ferocity and brilliant musicianship promising an album that will sear itself into the consciousness of those who give it a spin. No less impressive is the album’s first single, which you may already have heard, entitled ‘nourishment through bloodshed’. An unrelenting blast of toxic death metal, it is the remarkably dextrous guitar work that once again impresses beyond measure, but the whole package is utterly convincing and perfectly executed. ‘Imperium wolves’ is a more measured, somehow grander affair despite the raging guitar riffs and terrifying shrieks of Jonny Davy, whose assured vocal performance is just one of the many highlights of the album. ‘Tongueless and bound’ appears next out of a burst of feedback, all discordant guitars and off-kilter timings, and it proves that JFAC not only have the attitude and aggression necessary to be a great death metal band, but they also have the skill; their songs memorable as well as crushingly heavy and their musicianship absolutely first rate – each riff laser-guided and devastatingly precise. Even darker is the relentless pace of ‘black discharge’, an overwhelmingly harsh track that marries artillery style barrages of guitar to some truly hellish vocals. Even here, however, it is the brilliant soloing of guitarists Al Glassman and Tony Sannicandro that stick long in the memory, the fluid runs almost languid in the face of such devastation and yet the perfectly judged fretwork provides the ideal counterpoint to the ferocious riffs that rage around the melodic calm at the heart of the metallic storm.
Another example of the quite exceptional guitar work that dominates the album can be found within the complex battery of ‘the manipulation stream’ which sees pile-driving riffs offset with some inspirational guitar work that once again highlights the band’s intense and driven ambition. This is also evident on ‘the deity misconception’ which offers no quarter, opening as it does with a massive death metal grunt and then augmenting that with some truly demented riffs that are part Behemoth, part Meshuggah in conception. It’s thrilling, heart-pounding stuff reminiscent of Polish death metal kings Vader with its brutal vocals thrust firmly to the fore and the guitars providing a suitably devastating backdrop. Of the final tracks ‘fearmonger’ is a smear across the surface of the album, the lock-tight rhythm section heads-bowed and concentrating on getting to the next phrase without spontaneously combusting and then we’re onto ‘tarnished gluttony’, the highlight of the album with its mid tempo approach coming off as something quite different to anything else here, with the guitars providing a memorably melodic edge to the music via carefully harmonised solos in the vein of Arch Enemy.
It seems so easy to rip on Job for a cowboy. Apparently in some circles it’s a good way to earn metal credibility, presumably because the band have a higher profile than most and no band is more hated than a popular one – just ask Trivium. Moreover, it is true that JFAC’s deathcore start was far from auspicious, and it is arguable that the band are not innovators in a genre that is, if not already then certainly becoming, somewhat overcrowded; however, it is also true to say that the current line up of JFAC are terrifyingly proficient and their current batch of songs are their strongest yet – fine examples of a brutal and uncompromising genre that (contrary to reviews you may read elsewhere) certainly are memorable. Technical death metal is always going to be a bloodily contested field, and I have no doubt that as many readers approaching this review will be incensed by its complimentary nature as those who agree with it – such is life; but in the final analysis JFAC have crafted a fine death metal releases which, if not a classic, can at least hold its head up amongst the acknowledged masters of the genre.
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