Going on sheer raw technical talent alone, it's easy to see why the captains of industry at Metal Blade have been soiling themselves over Job for a Cowboy. This Arizona quintet first caused a few tremors in the underground with their self-financed _Doom_ EP, and since then they've been on an upward trajectory, touring with everyone from Chimaira to Shadows Fall and tipped as the next big thing by every other metal scribe with a keyboard. Their full-length debut, _Genesis_, certainly adds ample weight to that momentum.Not pissing about with any clichéd intros or other superfluous tripe, "Bearing the Serpents Lamb" sets the tone for a half hour's worth of vicious death metal; regularly tipping its hat to the genre's forefathers, but presented with a distinctly modern veneer. References to Decapitated and, to a lesser extent, Skinless are immediately evident, and Jonny Davy's pipes hint toward a gruffer David Vincent. But it's soon glaringly evident that this isn't simply another faceless addition to the growing line of death metal neophytes. Cue a subtle synth line into "The Divine Falsehood", and Job for a Cowboy take on a striking sense of dynamics and atmosphere. Add to that a suitably histrionic finale in "Coalescing Prophecy", and what you have is one of extreme music's most confident and memorable debuts in ages.