Audio Mixer: Corey Spotts.

Reissued by the Metal Blade label in 2008, Job for a Cowboy's original 2005 DOOM EP first put the death-metal ensemble on the musical map. Featuring pummeling tracks such as "Entombment of a Machine" and "Knee Deep," the EP also yielded an unexpected boost for the Arizona ensemble when the latter tune was cleverly turned into an online video featuring edited SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS clips.

After an initial demo, Job for a Cowboy's first proper release catapulted the Arizona band to unimaginable heights. It's likely no other metal band has gone as viral as quickly. Job for a Cowboy did so through technology -- MySpace, where the band amassed millions of profile views, and YouTube, where a fan cleverly mashed up "Knee Deep" with clips from SpongeBob SquarePants. Whether the band deserved such attention is debatable. Doom is competent, but trades in sounds, not songs, and is ultimately forgettable. A throwaway cinematic intro leads to a barrage of blastbeats, serviceable death metal riffs, and hardcore punk breakdowns -- an amalgamation now commonly called "deathcore." Jonny Davy's vocals alternate between grating mid-range yells and absurdly low growls; the latter are often dubbed "pig squeals," or, onomatopoeically, "brees." Almost overnight, hordes of MySpace copycats sprang up, even lifting the band's logo font. This is where it all started -- or ended, depending on your perspective. ~ Cosmo Lee