Jucifer

All Music Guide:

Rising out of a new wave of independent music from Athens, Georgia, sludge metal duo Jucifer produced a sound that resembled R.E.M. about as much as the New York Dolls resembled Barry Manilow. Alternating between atmospherics and frantic punk metal, the boyfriend-girlfriend team of Ed Livengood and Amber Valentine began impressing locals with their performing skills in 1993. Their first album, Calling All Cars on the Vegas Strip, began getting airplay at the end of 1998 and was released that same year by the Crack Rock record label. Its prodigious success on college radio got them a deal with Capricorn Records, who remastered and remixed the album, re-releasing it in early 2000. Capricorn officially went out of business soon afterwards, and Velocette Records released 2001’s Lambs EP, 2002’s I Name You Destroyer, and 2004’s War Bird. Jucifer signed to Relapse Records for their hard-hitting, 2006 record If Thine Enemy Hunger and their genre-shifting double album Autrichienne, which was released in 2008. In 2009, Livengood and Valentine starred in a drama by Derek Cianfrance titled Metalhead, playing themselves in the film, and then went on to found their own label, Nomadic Fortress Records, the following year. In 2010, the two-piece released their heaviest record to date, Throned in Blood.

Wikipedia:

Jucifer is a two piece sludge metal band signed to Relapse Records. The band's members include Gazelle Amber Valentine on lead guitar and vocals, and her husband Edgar Livengood on drums. They travel in an RV and are "nomadic in nature", preferring to tour constantly, living in their tour vehicle, rather than following the normal practice of album release/tour/time at home. Jucifer is notable for the extreme volume at which they perform, and the gigantic wall of amplification used for Valentine's guitar, as well as the dichotomy that has existed between much of the recorded material and their live shows. DVD release

The husband-and-wife duo starred in a film by Derek Cianfrance titled Metalhead, a drama centering on a drummer suffering from hearing loss and learning the meaning of silence. Livengood and Valentine play as themselves in the film. The film has been in production since 2009 but no release date has been announced.

History [edit]

Jucifer was formed in 1993 by Gazelle Amber Valentine and Edgar Livengood, who, according to Valentine, coined the band's name from a statement he 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." Previous to Jucifer the band had performed under several other names including Satan's Cheerleaders and Battle Star. They released their first album, Calling All Cars on the Vegas Strip, through fan run indie label Crack Rock. After this release, they signed to major label Capricorn Records, which reissued the album in 2000. With Jucifer still signed and awaiting release of its second album recorded in 1999, Capricorn officially went out of business. However a skeleton staff continued under the name Velocette Records, which released extended play EP Lambs in 2001 I Name You Destroyer in 2002 and War Bird in 2004. For their fifth release, If Thine Enemy Hunger, Jucifer signed to Relapse Records,

In March 2008, Jucifer released the double album, L'Autrichienne, which was recorded in July 2007. To support the album, Jucifer embarked on their first tour through Europe. After their very successful European tour they toured over the United States and Canada.

In 2010 Jucifer founded its own label, Nomadic Fortress Records, and signed a distribution deal with Relapse Records for its output. The band continues to tour constantly, both across North America and returning to Europe in 2010.

The album Throned In Blood was released in April 2010 by Nomadic Fortress Records. This album channels the raw hostility, black metal, death metal, and especially doom qualities which have dominated Jucifer's live show but rarely been heard on their albums.