Jucifer - District of Dystopia

Written by Matt Hinch.


You never really know what to expect from a Jucifer album. L'Autrichienne's cleanliness was a departure from If Thine Enemy Hunger. Throned in Blood got all black metal. The Russian Album brought down the doom. And now District of Dystopia changes things up again. One thing you can count on though is that anything from Jucifer is going to be loud.

If you've seen Jucifer live then you know just how loud they can be. I once couldn't walk a straight line after a show of theirs in a small club and it had nothing to do with the beer. So it is that the primal magic of District of Dystopia crystallizes in the cozy confines of Jucifer's own Winnebago. The devastation that occurs when Thee White Wall is erected on their never ending tour is just as potent, and loud, when played and recorded is such a constricting environment.

Photo by Pedro Roque.

The duo of Gazelle Amber Valentine and Edgar Livengood are nowhere near constricted here though. DoD is just as manic and muscular as anything they've done and possibly more chaotic. Doom and grind ricochet off the cabinets (both kinds) in erratic patterns over the course of 25 filthy minutes.

The stripped down and unpredictable approach makes so much sense though. DoD is a concept album about the District of Columbia, but chronicles hundreds of years of atrocity inflicted by the Americans “in power”. From the first off the Mayflower through to Obama, including Vietnam, Japanese internment camps in WWII, genocides, despicable treatment of Native Americans, military opportunism, Afghanistan and Iraq, ISIS and more all driven by one thing. Greed.

So DoD is kind of a wake up call if not exactly a protest album. Going all punk rock DIY, lo-fi and raw can be seen as a rebellion against “the system”. The expectation of the music industry/government I suppose is clean, civilized and conformist. DoD is dirty, unrefined and individual. Perhaps the inconsistency (in a good way) reflects the non-standard application of foreign policy?

Photo by Pedro Roque.

It's that feral energy that both Amber and Edgar bring to this recording that is its most endearing feature. Amber always pulls out all the stops in the Department of Riff Relations, from massive doom to primitive grind movements to noisy, off-the-wall unorthodoxy. Edgar too is at his brain-bashing best as Ambassador of Aggression changing course as the fluid structures dictate.

Keeping the song lengths down to a little over typical grind length (mostly under 3 minutes) the duo pack in a number of tempo changes as well as shifts in mood. It's done all the time but I'm always amazed at how a percussive change can totally alter the feel of a song from one moment to the next even though the riff stays the same. The inverse is true as well although Edgar is usually the one with the attention issues. His unconventional handling of the instrument is what makes him one of today’s very best drummers. Hands down.

The bond between the two is coiled tight on a musical level which comes as no surprise. However, there are few who can blend chaos, doom, death metal, noise and pure unrestrained energy into 1:56 and not miss a beat as on “Justice” the way they can. They are able to work in synchronicity and in opposition with ease.

Photo by Pedro Roque.

As raw, honest and just plain noisy as District of Dystopia is, grinding at the ears and slicing away any notion of sheen, the lyrics are not to be overlooked. Amber may be dispensing them in a shivering mix of screeches, barks, yowls and growls but on paper their poetic nature shines. Her brutal passion gives the words extra power and the essays she wrote to accompany the release reveal how deeply she feels about the topics discussed.

DoD may sound simple in its musical approach but lyrically it's anything but. It may sound like a couple meth-heads making an unholy racket in an RV but that's what makes it so beautiful. And so Jucifer. They've always done things their own way and this is no exception. It's gnarly, raw, primal, chaotic grinding doom with a little but of whatever thrown in for good measure. Most of all it is ugly. Just like history. Brutality, death and power.

“He who controls the past, controls the future.
And who controls the present, controls the past.”
George Orwell - 1984

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Jucifer - The Russian Album

Review by Andy Osborn.

Cover photo by Edgar Livengood

The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the most brutal assaults during World War II. For five months the Soviets held off Nazi battalions while they lost over a million lives and witnessed the decimation of one of their home. But they ultimately prevailed and helped turned the tide of the War with what would become one of the greatest triumphs in military history. With За Bолгой для нас земли нет, Jucifer tells the tale of this struggle through the eyes of the metropolis and its people.

This is a clear-cut concept album and as the Cyrillic title shows it’s not created for easy consumption. The band want to tell this tale in their own way, and they want to do it without compromise. This means starting with a spoken word intro entirely in Russian which will challenge even the most ardent fans, but as you wind your way through this dense maze keep in mind that everything has its place and you will be rewarded for your patience. From the opening note of the first proper song, Jucifer make clear their intention to overwhelm your senses. Amber Valentine’s otherworldly-tuned guitar rumbles through your ear canals and into your very being as the riff grows into its stoned self. At 9 minutes long and glacial in pace, “Song of the Waking City” makes it tempting to take out the bong, but that would be unwise at this point. A clear mind is essential for what’s to come.

Photo by Jaime Garcia Perez

Jucifer have become known as one of the most effective multi-genre anomalies in the business, and they spend the next hour breaking every barrier that ever existed between the most crushing of metal underworlds. Doom, stoner, sludge, grind and punk are peppered throughout what’s become known as The Russian Album, sometimes with entire songs dedicated to their worship and sometimes with just a riff or rhythmic thought thrown their way. Although I’ve never had the chance to witness them live, Jucifer's show is known for its eardrum bursting capabilities and the production here captures that perfectly. Nothing is slick or polished, just tweaked to the pinnacle of heaviness while the duo squeeze every last possible decibel out of their minimal equipment. Dangerously high is the only volume at which this album can be fully appreciated; if your ears aren't hurting or your windows aren't shaking, the majestic onslaught is not being fully experienced.

Total war has now descended upon you as shots are fired from all sides and the lyrics progress into further detail of the bloody onslaught. Just like in battle there is hardly any rest, no respite for the weary. By the time you have wandered into the vast wasteland that is the aptly named “Siberia” most will have made up their minds as to continue or not on this punishing trek, but persevering forward will be rewarded. These seven minutes of drone make some of the most cataclysmic and devastating recordings imaginable, and act as an icy wall standing guard over the album’s second half. Across the wintry desert, distortion continues to pummel and destroy as the tale of one of the world’s most infamous battles draws to a close. But as I neared the end a sense of desperation became present as I realized just how much weight this album carries. There is still so much to comprehend and absorb it may be years before anyone fully understands or realizes what Jucifer have done here. Multiple listens have still hardly begun to scratch the surface, but the sense of standing in the shadow of something unparalleled is obvious.

Photo by Jaime Garcia Perez

The husband and wife team rarely miss the mark on this 80 minute monstrosity of an album, but at points the overt complexities do get a bit frustrating. The Russian Album closes as it opened, with a spoken Russian passage ending the tale. While not unsurprising, the following six minutes of what sounds like someone walking around with a microphone in their pocket certainly are. An unceremonious end to the journey to be sure, but not one that stands in contrast to this maddeningly complicated work.

I can’t imagine anything much more challenging music than a Russian history concept piece showered in disgustingly dirty sludge, but Jucifer have created something special with every ounce of their energy and passion. The fact that it’s this elaborate and confounding is a testament to their dedication and strength, qualities shared by the soldiers who fought to save their beloved city.

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Jucifer - Throned In Blood

Jucifer's latest full-length Throned In Blood was released by their own record label Nomadic Fortress, and is now available on Bandcamp. Throned In Blood has been heralded as the first album that recreates the raw aggression and sheer power of Jucifer in a live setting. This makes some (AllMusic) yearn for the more varied songwriting and unpredictability of earlier albums, while others (Lambgoat) tips the hat to Jucifer now linking the two halves of the band's personality in recording.

The production is raw and live sounding, you can hear the crackle of the over-pushed amplifiers. I haven't heard Jucifer live, but this album makes me want to. Coupled with the stripped down songwriting and the DIY approach, and you can draw a line all the way back to Nadir, their self-released debut cassette from 1994.

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Note: Jucifer's two previous albums, L'autrichienne and If Thine Enemy Hunger, are available on their Relapse Records Bandcamp page.

Jucifer - Nadir

Jucifer's Nadir is a rough gem from the Grindcore Karaoke Bandcamp. Their self-recorded cassette from 1994 has been transferred to digital and mastered by Scott Hull. Extremely heavy sludge and doom combined with the dreamy, pop-influenced melodies from Gazelle Amber Valentine. As she writes in the charming liner notes included with the download, this is "something pretty raw and sketchy". But it does paint a vivid picture of why Jucifer became the cult legends they are today. Here's a review of the re-issue from The Sleeping Shaman.

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