Job for a Cowboy

It seems most bands from Arizona can’t escape their desert roots. While Job for a Cowboy is a death-metal outfit of the hardcore variety, their name surely reflects their Glendale roots. The West Valley band has received national attention from Rolling Stone and the New York Times, which described Job for a Cowboy as sounding indirectly derived from hardcore punk. The description is abstract because any subgenre ending with the suffix “-core” is made-up and an invalid way of pigeonholing music. Their most recent release, Ruination, delves into political themes, à la punk, and includes songs titled “Constitutional Masturbation,” “March to Global Enslavement,” and “Psychological Immorality.” Now that these fired-up locals have made a national name for themselves, an in-town performance is less commonplace. Get your local-“core” on while you can.