Job For A Cowboy — Ruination

Ruination

Metal Blade/Universal

Keith Carman (CHARTattack)

08/20/2009 2:03pm

Thrash-influenced death metal brigade Job For A Cowboy (JFAC) have always been under intense scrutiny from the metal world. Where many contemporaries were forced to pay dues, they garnered an instant profile/hype by being one of the musical genre's first MySpace fads/signings.

Their 2007 debut, Genesis, was passable, but it failed to deliver the titanic wallop many had expected. But with sophomore effort Ruination, JFAC are finally starting to show that power and abillity we've been anticipating.

The album's 10 tracks burrow deeper into straightforward death metal, and are incredibly organized, refined and mature. Intensified musicianship results in the ability to technically deliver their creative, masterful riffs that propel songs filled with dynamic, dissonant chords, abrasive vocals that flip between guttural bellows and shrieking blasts, and impeccable tempo shifts ranging from demonically slow to obliteratingly fast.

It's all incredibly impressive and marks a new high for JFAC, justifying the initial hoopla and solidifies them as a worthwhile force in modern metal.

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