Concert Review: Jucifer – Wednesday, November 28, 2012 – Augusta, GA

Jucifer
The Soul Bar
Wednesday, November 28
Augusta, GA
Review/Photos by Jeff Miles

The perpetually touring two-piece known as Jucifer brought their brand of Southern doom to the Soul Bar in Augusta, GA. If you have yet to experience Jucifer live, your ears don’t know what they are missing. Jucifer are a husband and wife duo consisting of Edgar Livengood on drums and backing vocals and Amber Valentine on guitar and vocals. Seeing them for the first time, you cannot help but be overwhelmed at the sheer volume of the music being created by just two people. It’s loud, really loud, but not an ear-piercing loud that you may associate with screaming metal guitars. This is low detuned rumble that relentlessly kicks you in the chest for seventy to eighty minutes. If the shifting of the tectonic plates had a soundtrack, it could be the wall of sound created by Jucifer. This low, heavy sound has become synonymous with southern underground music, but was at least partially originated by Amber and Edgar in Athens, GA, back in the early 90s, and perfected over their two decades as a band.

The onstage arrangement of instruments is not typical for a rock band. With only two band members, Edgar’s drum kit is placed up front alongside Amber’s mike and pedalboard, giving him and his beats equal billing to Amber’s massive riffs. This arrangement would make sense even if there were four or five musicians on stage as Edgar is one of the most energetic and entertaining drummers around. While taking photos at this show, I took a falling cymbal to the head. It happens. The backdrop of the stage and the vessel through which their mammoth sound is set forth upon the world is a wall of amps anchored by six, yes six, Ampeg SVT 8×10 bass cabinets. These cabinets are laid on their sides, two cabinets wide, and three cabinets high. A fourth row of 4×10 and 1×18 bass cabinets sit atop the Ampegs. Flanking both sides is an assortment of 4×10 bass cabinets and 4×12 guitar cabinets. This imposing wall of amps has come to be known as “The White Wall” or the “Wall of Amber.” A friend and I once tried to count the wattage. We lost count somewhere around six thousand. That many amps coupled with their style of music creates an unbelievably dense wall of distortion that rattles the very foundations of any music hall and can often be felt blocks down the street. I generally like to see them play in a larger venue where the sound can be dispersed throughout the building, but it’s always a pleasure to see them, or any band, in a small intimate club with as much character as the Soul Bar..

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Jucifer’s live show is probably not for the fair-weather rock fan, but for any advocate of heavy music, I highly recommend seeing it at least once. If you enjoy the show, give their 2010 album “Throned in Blood” a spin. It most closely captures their live sound. Their heaviest and most aggressive album, “Throned” is a thirty-six minute musical assault about the atrocities of war. The music is as brutal as the topics discussed in songs such as “Hiroshima,” “Contempt,” and “Spoils to the Conqueror.” Think of this album as their “Reign in Blood.”

Even if Jucifer’s live show isn’t for you, it would be a mistake to not give their other albums a listen. The one thing Jucifer does better than play loud is write songs. Their albums offer an uncommon diversity of styles from the hauntingly beautiful title track of their 2008 release “L’autrchienne” to the pop rock churn of “Pontius of Palia” to the dense droning guitars of the nine minute epic “The Mountain.” Amber’s vocal prowess on these songs is rarely discussed, but she has an array of ammunition in her arsenal that always accentuates the mood and tone of the song. From a gravelly metal growl to a soft purr, Amber is no one trick pony in the vocal department and sets herself apart from the legions of cookie monster metal vocalists by giving the listener a range of voices to absorb. Occasionally she even sings in French.

Unlike so many heavy bands, there is an elegance and beauty to Jucifer’s music. Even in their heaviest songs, there are rich tones and nuances that parallel artists such as Hendrix, My Bloody Valentine, Soundgarden, and Harvey Milk who understand that unharnessed feedback, the natural response of an overdriven amplifier, has value alongside melody, rhythm, and the almighty riff in shaping the aesthetics of a song.

If Jucifer comes to your town, and chances are they will, go see them play, but don’t forget your ear protection! After the show stop and speak to them. Despite the brutality of their live show, they are two of the most genuinely sweet people you will meet which is an accomplishment in itself after twenty years in the music industry.

Special thanks to Jeff Mills for contributing this review/photos.  For more on Jeff please go check out his website http://www.eye-solationimages.com

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