Job For A Cowboy – Ruination

Job For A Cowboy are making a step further with this new album. Yes, this band forced the metal world to hear their name in a short amount of time, but in my opinion it was well worth it.

Now, only Jonny Davy remains from their initial line-up and the changes did also change the style of the band. The new guitarist Al Glassman (former guitarist of Despised Icon ) surely took the band deeper in the technical-death-metal universe. J.F.A.C. can no longer characterized as deathcore and seem to have matured as a band. When I heard that a new drummer has joined their forces, I was worried about what I’ll listen, but he is an outstanding player and his fast-technical playing is adding a lot to the anger of the tracks.

The band in this album wrote lyrics on the same backround as “Genesis”, for example about religion, the apocalypse, etc., but “Ruination”  is not a concept album and has more lyrics with political content.

This CD has an ‘in your face’ attitude and the vocals of Davy play a critical role in this. Whereas this album is pure technical death, someone can find parts of other genres of metal, especially in solos. When I heard the songs for the first time, several thoughts jumped into my mind, I have found parts that reminded me of Lamb Of God, Slayer and also power metal solos.

The production is clear, but there are some drawbacks. The bass cannot be heard well and sometimes the vocals and the guitar seem unorganized and each of them is trying to get the leads.

J.F.A.C.’s new child is a ‘must’ in a modern death metal collection. It is not the most technical album, neither the most brutal one, but it is a good mixture. The band has matured and I am sure that their next album will be an alive proof that we have to consider them one of the best bands in modern death metal sound.