Heavy Song of the Week: Job for a Cowboy Break

Heavy Song of the Week is a feature on Heavy Consequence breaking down the top metal and hard rock tracks you need to hear every Friday. This week, the top selection goes to “The Agony Seeping Storm” by Job for a Cowboy.

We can only imagine the sense of triumph the members of Job for a Cowboy are feeling right now: to break a nine-year hiatus with a track that’s already being called an instant masterpiece by fans who’ve waited ever-so patiently for its arrival.

“The Agony Seeping Storm” is a pure distillation of the progressive death metal the Arizona-based band built its name on across four studio albums spanning the early aughts up through 2014’s Sun Eater. Take Chuck Shuldiner’s post-Human tech-death riffs, put ’em in a blender, and piece together the results with mathematical precision.

The arrangement is dense and unwieldy, but Job for a Cowboy offer sonic footholds in the form of breakdowns, catchy vocal cadences, and other grounding identifiers. The accessibility-to-complexity ratio is balanced in a way that the song could conceivably find crossover appeal among fans of metalcore, death metal, and prog alike. It’s a fine introduction to the band’s forthcoming fifth studio album, slated for a 2024 release.

Honorable Mentions:

Exhumed – “Lysergicide”

Death metal vets Exhumed dropped a surprise EP this week, highlighted by the despicable opening track “Lysergicide.” It’s a gut-punch of absurdity, accelerating the band’s signature deformities — the howl-to-growl dual vocals, grating production, and gore-obsessed lyrical content — into a comedically-paced torrent of congealed death-metal stew. Disgustingly satiating!

Nervosa – “Jailbreak”

We can’t get over how badass Prika Amaral is as the new vocalist of Nervosa. After commanding her long-running band as guitarist and chief songwriter, Amaral assumed frontwoman duties for Nervosa’s upcoming album Jailbreak, and based on the two singles we’ve heard, she could’ve been on the mic from the start! The title track, released this past week, is a rousing thrasher that is best summarized by its music video: a heavy metal rager with brews held high and shots to go around.

Steven Wilson – “Economies of Scale”

For the prog-rock faithful, a new Steven Wilson album is always cause for celebration. The Porcupine Tree mastermind has long-since established himself a modern prog institution, having written and performed some of the most celebrated progressive metal music of all-time with his aforementioned band. But his solo offerings allow him to delve into the other alcoves of his vast musical lexicon. For example, on “Economies of Scale” — the lead single from his upcoming The Harmony Codex — Wilson explores his soulful side as a singer, layering vocal harmonies around a pattering electronic rhythm that casts a Kid A-Radiohead vibe.

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