Jucifer WAR BIRD EP (Velocette)

Although Jucifer are a DIY guitar-and-drum duo from Athens, their sound is so heavy and full of contrasts that it’s hard to believe additional members aren’t lurking somewhere in the mix. Maybe that’s because singer/guitarist Amber Valentine can sound like both a young girl singing to her stuffed animals and a gritty death-metal screamer. Or because her thick-as-tar guitar riffs ooze over drummer Edgar Livengood’s hard-rock- and hip-hop-influenced beats with enough authority to suggest a headbangers’ ball worth of musicians. On this their fourth release, Jucifer have tamed their musical multi-personality disorder. They favor a muddy hard-rock sound, with Valentine’s elegant vocals winding over a thick, stately riff on the sludge rockers "Ides of Light" and "Day Breaks on the Field of Battle." But their unpredictable taste for the eclectic brightens the mood on "Haute Couture," thanks to a stuttering beat and Valentine’s arch French-sounding vocals, and on the menacing alterna-country ballad "My Stars."