Review Summary: Redefining the sound of what metal can be.
After a ten year hiatus, Job for a Cowboy came back with maybe the greatest metal album ever written. On the paper, and especially after a look at the album artwork, we could’ve expected Sun Eater 2.0, but what we’ve got is so much more. Perhaps this is what may happen if an artist takes their time to forge an album over many, many years? Let me start with the biggest strength of Moon Healer:
The bass. Yes, it almost feels like the very first time that you can actually notice that there is a bass player even playing their instrument on a metal record. Most records these days are mixed and produced to really put the bass as much in the background as possible, making it almost redundant to even have a bass player. Not for nothing, so many bands are parting ways with their bassist these days. It is definitely a dying job, but good that we have these Cowboys, who are bringing back the beauty of the bass.
The mixing in general is absolutely top notch, it’s almost impossible to find a better sounding record. Not just the bass lines are there where they belong, no, also the guitars and drums sound fantastic and are very easy locateable in the mix. Another very big strength of this record is the flow of the songs and the structure of the entire record. It just feels like a cohesive masterpiece and it paves a way into a different sonically dimension.
Lyrically this record is absolutely ahead of its time. Cryptic verses paired with delightful poetic lyricism is refined into a flawless work of art that I’ve never witnessed in that way before. It literally changed my view on metal and music itself and had a huge impact on my musical perception. It’s also reflected in the very enigmatic and mysterious song titles.
Not just the writing, but also the vocals are absolutely magnificent. Usually I tend to find most “Deathcore” influenced vocals kinda boring, but Jonny Davy has one of the most powerful voices in Death Metal. It’s very unique and would be easily recognizable among thousands of other vocalists.
Another enormous highlight of this record are the guitars: It’s literally an earthquake of lead riffs that are flying towards the listener and it just doesn’t stop, you just can’t catch a break, who would want that anyway? It’s never repetitive, they always find a way to bring the next heavy hitting riff into your eardrums and if it’s not the guitars, it’s the aforementioned excellent bass that takes “the lead” and kidnaps you into a fabulous soundscape that you never want to escape from.
All of this is obviously just my opinion, and I’m sure some people might see it differently, but I can say from the bottom of my soul: This record didn’t just heal the moon, it also restored my hope in modern metal and this is a milestone in music that surely will never be forgotten.
