Job For a Cowboy are back this Friday with their much-anticipated new record Moon Healer, out via Metal Blade Records. Their first album in a decade, the pressure was on, and they do not disappoint.
While JFAC have flirted with a variety of sounds in their career, they seem to have simplified things with this release, leaning into a raw and punishing death metal sound. It sums up their years of experience, but it also offers something new and exciting and in no way sounds like a band rehashing past triumphs. This is something new entirely.
Ahead of this anti-psychedelic death metal masterpiece, we chatted with bassist Nick Schendzielos about the new record and their future trajectory.
It’s been a decade since you’ve put out music, and everyone has really been anticipating this record. What all went into the writing and recording process after such a log time between albums?
It was a long, arduous writing and recording process. We were always planning to put something out to follow the last record, but we all had stuff going on and there wasn’t much availability in the collective schedule. Then we all started sending each other music, and that eventually added up to having quite a bit of music. It wasn’t until, like, 20218 when we started being like OK. here’s eight or nine solid songs. Then we kept puting things through the refiner, and there were many revisions and so many different versions of the songs. There were a lot of times that we never thought it would see the light of day, but we’re so glad it did.
It may have taken a while, but it feels like good timing with death metal, deathcore, metallic hardcore, and all those different variations having a moment in the sun. Do you think that’s going to positively impact the record?
It’s funny because when I first joined the band back in 2011 and they showed me the material, it was like super techy stuff, like all the tails on every riff are different, with very little riff repeats. It was super fast and technical, and it was very obvious that they had taken a hard left turn away from the more “core” elements like thee bass drops and big build-ups, standard breakdowns, that kind of thing. And now we’re seeing all these bands that have that really technical sort of sound. So I think the 10-year gap might have actually served us well in that way.
I know it’s super early to call it, but fans will be wanting to know: Are there any plans in the works to put another record out following this one?
Tony’s always playing guitar, so right after we turned this record in. to Metal Blade, Tony already had a demo of something else for us, some material that didn’t make it onto the record. Thematically, we’re not sure where we’re going to go because hypothetically, depending on how you interpret this album, the subject of the record could end up dead. We want to leave that up to interpretation. It’s kind of meant to touch on psychedelic experiences and this shamanistic interpretation of reality when you become your own shaman and end up going too far. When it comes to psychedelics, I’m definitely on the side of legalizing and regulating, and that’s important because if you have a predisposition for psychosis, or schizophrenia, or dementia, any of that stuff, then you definitely don’t want to be experimenting with hallucinogens.
I think that’s such an interesting theme for this moment in time, especially with what’s going on here in Colorado, gearing up for mushroom legalization.
Yeah, and don’t get me wrong, I feel like it’s only, like, 10% of people who have a really bad trip. People have minor bad trips, but it’s not like they’re not coming back. And I do think there are still some scare tactics about it, which isn’t what we’re trying to do. But at the same time, there is so much to consider, like set and setting, medical history, and other factors. So it’s not so much a warning against psychedelics in general as it is a look at what can happen when someone goes too far.
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