Customer Reviews

L' Autrichienne

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2 star:		(1)
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Jucifer's beautifully raw and complete masterpiece depicting Marie Antoinette and events leading to the Reign of Terror punches you hard in the gut, then gently kisses you as you fall. You'll feel your bones crunching under chords of sickening despair, and the most melodic moments will have you tearfully soaring with hope and glimmering beauty.

I've seen these guys (guy and gal) play probably a 1/2 dozen times. They are a sight to behold live. I think it was 1998 at the Soul Bar in Augusta, Georgia the first time I accidentally walked into their wall of noise. It was a mind blow! They were incredibly loud and unbridled. Ed was a maniac destroying his helpless kit. Amber was sweet and scary, beautiful and hideous all at once. Pretty amazing. Later I moved up to Athens and saw them a handful more times and always was blown away. However, I've been disappointed with their albums...until this one. Man they've finally made the album that captures their split personality sound quite well here. The traditional Melvins/Sabbath sludge is still there with Amber's sweet vocals over the wall of noise. At some points they approach a heavy indie guitar pop sound like early Replacements with female vocals. Then unexpectedly Napalm Death-like grindcore crashes the party. But then they move abrubtly yet effortlessly into acoustic balladry. They switch gears on this album very similarly too another favorite band of mine, Opeth. Although Jucifer tend to change gears from song to song rather than within a single song like Opeth. Anyway, this is by far their best album to date and most ambitious. Highly recommended!

Even if you're not a metal or experimental-noise fan, you'll want to own this - particularly in double pink vinyl. Amber knows how to go to extremes of decibels and silence in the way King Crimson did during their "Red/Starless" period. And the quieter acoustic periods capture with grace the sense of Marie Antoinette awaiting a certain fate. Sometimes when you see Jucifer's wall of amps, you wonder if the duo knows how to be subtle. They know, and show it here. This is not as much a soundtrack album for The Terror, as it is a soundtrack for Thermidor, the post-Terror period when aristocratic youth went around beating up the sans-culotte Jacobins and poor (note that one track even refers to Thermidor). Does it sound like an 18th-century Clockwork Orange? So does Jucifer. Steam punks unite.

Jucifer are an eclectic garage band combining elements of metal (traditional, doom, sludge and death), noise rock, grunge, acoustic folk and hardcore punk. Some of the bands I clearly hear in their unique sound include Dawn Crosby's original Fear Of God, Bathory, Mind Over Four and My Dying Bride. If you can imagine these bands with a more noise/grunge vibe you'd have a pretty good idea of Jucifer's sound. They share the Bathory aesthetic as observed on albums like DESTROYER OF WORLDS in that both the production & material have a wild, unrefined, diverse and completely non-commercial vibe. Don't expect overdone production like Metallica's BLACK ALBUM or overly schooled technical expertise of bands like, say, Dream Theater (whom I personally can't stand). The comparison to Dawn Crosby's Fear of God is mostly in the vocal department, both bands are distinguished by incredibly creative and multifarious female vocalizations -- singing, whispering, screaming, crooning, talking, etc., although it should be stressed that Amber lacks the overwhelmingly bleak and depressing air of Dawn; in fact, sometimes she's positively spry.

Believe it or not, Jucifer are a two-member band consisting of the beautiful Amber Valentine (guitars/vocals/piano) and her husband Edgar Livengood (drums/bass). Hailing from Athens, Georgia, they travel in a RV and tour constantly; I'm not sure exactly how they pull their material off live (for having only two members) but I've heard they do it quite well. Their band name, incidentally, was coined from a statement Edgar heard during O.J. Simpson's trials for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman: "If he's guilty, then he's the devil and The Juice is Lucifer." Silly, huh?

Released in 2008, L' AUTRICHIENNE is, by far, the best Jucifer album I've heard (the others I own are 2004's WAR BIRD and 2006's IF THINE ENEMY HUNGER). L' AUTRICHIENNE is a 70-minute concept album based on the French Revolution and Marie Antoinette, who was nicknamed "l'Autrichienne" (French: 'the Austrian') due to her Austrian origin and connections. Ms. Valentine chose the subject after finding a book on the French Revolution in an RV park library. The album's liner notes feature a historical commentary to each song. There's strangely no picture(s) of Amber and Edgar, however, which is unfortunate considering Amber's beauty, nor are there any lyrics (!).

L'AUTRCHIENNE consists of 21 tracks -- long and short. Allow me to comment on my favorites (the number in parentheses is the track number):

- (3) "To Earth": This is a simple strummed 'acoustic' number made infectious by Amber's emotionally-potent melodies. A standout track.
- (5) "Champ De Mars": I mainly like the way the plain riff & soft vocals morph into something dynamic at about the 2:20 mark.
- (7) "To the End": This is another standout acoustically-strummed track with infectious vocal lines a la "To Earth." Both songs would be major radio hits if there were any justice in the world.
- (8) "Armada": Imagine the gothic doom metal of My Dying Bride combined with the creative feminine vocals of Dawn Crosby (Fear of God) and you'd have a good idea of what this song sounds like. A great piece with an amazingly epic climax.
- (9) "L' Autrichienne": The title track is an emotionally-stirring slow song similar to, say, the Stone's "Angie." Beautiful.
- (10) "Behind Every Great Man": A cool driving art-rock number.
- (12) "Birds of a Feather": An appealing doom/death/art rock hybrid.
- (13) "Traitors": This is a driving to-the-point piece highlighted by Amber's screaming vocals on the chorus. Nothing great but strangely infectious. However, if you didn't like Amber's screaming on the awesome "Antietam" (from IF THINE ENEMY HUNGER) you probably won't like this one.
- (15) "Noyade": An eerie, atmospheric number with haunting vocals, sorta reminiscent of the slow bass-driven mid-section of Iron Maiden's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner."
- (16) "The Mountain": Total sludge with whispering female vocals.
- (18) "Fleur De Lis": The main instrument sounds like a banjo. A softly emotive and atmospheric track. Awesome.
- (21) "The Assembly": A short, eerie whisper-worded epilogue. It's almost chilling. Amber must've been listening to King Diamond that day.

The rest of the songs aren't bad by any means and they add to the enjoyable diverse ambiance and utter originality of the recording; for instance, the short burst of hardcore punk of "Thermidore" (track 2) and "Fall of the Bastille" (track 6), which are reminiscent in spirit of, say, Bathory's "Bleeding," and the slow Melvins-esque air of "Deficit" (track 4).

FINAL WORD: Jucifer are the ultimate art-metal/garage-rock band unrestrained by categoriztion or boundaries and L' AUTRICHIENNE is their magnum opus, the quintessential realization of the genre's potential. It might not wholly dawn on you at first but if you give it some time you'll see the light. Magnificent.

I own every Jucifer release even "a Partridge in a pear tree". Anyhow this Lp has had such a deep impact on me since I got a vinyl copy over a digital one. Each disc is its own beautiful communication between two of the most mentally unified musicians I have had the pleasure of listening to. These nomads show there ability to drive pure energy throbbing goodness to sexy french whispers with a skillful devotion seldom seen in the world of music recorded or live. Go see Jucifer they are probably on tour somewhere and sooner or later it will be near you.

You probably already know this is widely regarded to be an amazing record. Suffice it to say that I agree, and I will leave the lavishing of praise to the record critics. But I will add this: this LP is pressed on bubblegum pink vinyl. If you did needed that extra little push to buy it on vinyl, there it is.

There are a few interesting things going on, but as a whole this album is really underwhelming. It's different. I'll give Jucifer that -- they are a different band. But ultimately there has to be some substance and this album offers little. Lots of variety on this album, but unfortunately most of it fails to satisfy on any level. Jucifer does lots of things ... differently. I'd settle for one thing they do very well.

"To the End," "Noyade," "Coma" and the title track show Jucifer are capable of putting together some enjoyable, soft ballads. The singer's voice really is very nice. I'd prefer an entire album of this sort to the chaotic, schizophrenic whole of L'Autrichienne. It's too bad the majority of this album is just noise for the sake of noise. Noise with a purpose is effective. Noise for the sake of noise is just annoying.