[3/5] Jucifer are stricken by the curse that nothing they record will ever top their live shows, where singer-guitarist Amber Valentine brings the noise with a 15-amp attack, while drummer Edgar Livengood pounds his kit until he pukes. The nomadic husband-and-wife team-who live out of a Winnebago-waste no time unleashing the insanity on If Thine Enemy Hunger. The album opens with "She Tides," a seven-minute sludge-fest that's all blunt-trauma percussion, dream-pop vocals, and narcoticized tsunamis of distortion. But just when they've finally ground you down with their monometallic neo-grunge, they break out the surprises. The fabulously frantic "Antietam" combines badmotorfinger riffage with, of all things, Appalachian banjo picking, over which Valentine spews lines like, "I'm an angel bathed in blood and it's a goddamned curse." Hunger's subsequent revelations include the sugar-buzzed anti-pop of "Backslider" and the flat-out gorgeous "Medicated," which starts out as an acoustic ballad before exploding into shoegazer heaven. That such tracks make for the great moments on If Thine Enemy Hunger should send a message: as fun as it is to fire up 15 smoking amps, Jucifer's at their best when doing more than bludgeoning listeners into submission. (RELAPSE) Mike Usinger
 Official Website: http://www.relapserecords.com
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