If you’re a metalhead of a certain age, chances are that one of your most memorable moments in heavy music is hearing JOB FOR A COWBOY‘s Doom EP for the first time. The moment that Entombment For A Machine stampeded through the speakers and Bree’d new life into extreme metal is one that few forget, the less said about the poor imitators the better.
Soon after essentially giving pretty much every modern deathcore band in existence the inspiration to begin, the band moved onto more straightforward and eventually maddeningly progressive death metal pastures. Their last album Sun Eater, released a decade ago, contained some of the best bass work the genre has ever seen and took listeners on a vivid, acid-tinged journey into Lovecraftian, bewildering lands. Comparisons to bands such as AS BLOOD RUNS BLACK and OCEANO no longer seemed appropriate; the band had fully delved head first into territories inhabited by ATHEIST, CYNIC and VOIVOD.
Before delving into the Moon Healer, its artwork has to be mentioned. Its Lovecraftian horror meets Majoras Mask on LSD look is truly one to behold and gives you a pretty good indication of the record’s mood and sound, opening up your mind and delving right into it with unnaturally long, spiked fingertips. The album itself had actually been in creation for a few years, with obvious pandemic pushbacks affecting its gestation. When the first single, The Agony Seeping Storm dropped, minds were blown with just how vital and devastating it sounded. The band’s progressive nature was mixed with modern edge and a seeming desire to show the world that they are still able to wow after nearly two decades.
Record opener Beyond The Chemical Doorway lulls you in, with that luscious high in the mix bass giving way to a cacophony of bewildering guitars, furious blast beats and Jonny Davy‘s instantly recognisable voice. Veering between banshee shrieks and his trademark gutturals, tales of the unknown horrors are brought to life. Throughout there’s almost a hazy, stoner undercurrent of mystique, which is continued on Etched Into Oblivion.
If there’s a standout on the record, it’s lead guitarist Tony Sannicandro. His otherworldly riffs and solos help to elevate the songs to a place where the cover art begins to make a little more sense. The production is a little cleaner than the more grizzled, beer-stained patch wearing death metal fanatic will probably like but it’s vital to the experience. One thing that does make a return for the band is a bass sound that is frankly divine. You can hear every movement from Nick Schendzielos‘ expert fingers almost caressing the bass into your ear canal, and on a good pair of headphones it’s amongst some of the best the genre has ever had.
Shades of OPETH and even MASTODON (think Blood Mountain era guitar leads) pop up all over the record, particularly on Into The Crystalline Crypts. Astonishingly, only one track is over six minutes in length but the band fit so many twists and turns into each piece without ever getting boring that it borders on witchcraft. A few moments can blur into one another to create a slightly samey blob, but for the most part the album exists as one singular journey into the demented. The album reaches its extra-terrestrial pinnacle on A Sorrow Filled Moon, which seems to fully realise the album’s ideas and leans fully into the artwork. You never know what to expect and with your eyes closed, it creates a sensation akin to that of being drunk on a rollercoaster.
In a world where bands such as HORRENDOUS and TOMB MOLD have redefined the bar for what a progressive death record can be, for JOB FOR A COWBOY to come back and stand toe to toe with them is astounding. At times it really does feel that a twisted, eldritch moon with a twisted visage will be plummeting into the earth at any moment. This is not only a worthy successor to Sun Eater, it’s a record that will take its place in the upper echelons of modern death metal.
Rating: 9/10
Moon Healer is set for release on February 23rd via Metal Blade Records.
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