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Job for a Cowboy > Genesis > Reviews > Noktorn
Job for a Cowboy - Genesis

Hey why not - 80%

Noktorn, February 15th, 2008

So after Job For A Cowboy finished the 'Doom' EP, which was pretty mediocre (if wildly popular) deathcore, they decided to drop the metalcore influences almost entirely and go for a pure modern death metal sound, which essentially means that they do their best to make a modern Behemoth album and succeed about halfway. Apparently the band is much better at cloning Behemoth than they are at making deathcore, because 'Genesis' is substantially better than the debut EP in just about every respect. I didn't think that the metalcore influences were a particularly bad thing on their own, but they were shoehorned into what were fairly standard, moderately technical death metal. It's good to see them just go for the latter, where their strengths lie.

'Genesis' literally is just 'Demigod'-era Behemoth with a tech death flair, meaning that there are occasionally notes above the ninth fret on guitar. They're few and far between though, and most of it is bombastic, crushing guitar riffs in the latter-era Behemoth style with a similarly dogmatic drum performance. The vocals are obviously not Nergal's double-tracked monstrosities, but more of a growling shout, probably the biggest reference to their -core roots. Songs like 'Embedded' are the clearest Behemoth worship, sounding essentially exactly like the Polish band in nearly every department. There are occasional parts that don't sound like newer Behemoth (which instead sound like mid-era Behemoth), but this is for all intents and purposes a complete clone.

Fortunately, Behemoth is a good band to clone! Everyone likes new Behemoth, including me, so 'Genesis' is a fun listen for those who liked 'Demigod' but wished it could be a teensy bit less bombastic all the time. So what you have here is a more measured, reasonable version of new Behemoth with shouty vocals. Ignore the name on the cover and this is a pretty basic and effective modern death metal album. It has really good, clear, heavy production. There's lots of epic, soaring (in a thunderous, Panzer sort of way) riffs, and hugely triggered drumming, and the vocals are suitably dogmatic to tie it all together. Fascinating? Most certainly not. Enjoyable? Yes, yes it is.