War Bird

Jucifer

Vellocette Records

Recommended if…

War Bird

Jucifer

Vellocette Records

Recommended if you like: Veruca Salt and Evanesence

America, like the music industry, is a battlefield – only the strongest survive. And Jucifer is looking to take over both with their newest EP, War Bird. It exposes emotions of fear, pride and jadedness throughout the songs.

The first track on the EP, “Ideas of Light,” features tense guitar riffs and almost tribal drum beats. You feel as though you are marching into war, with the outcome doomed to be negative. Sporadically, the instruments drop off, leaving Amber Valentine’s pained vocals resonating in your ears.

Considering that the first three tracks start off with the same dissonant guitar chords, it is hard to really appreciate the musicianship in the beginning of the album. Following “Ideas of Light” is “Day Breaks on the Field of Battle.” The track is fully instrumental and sounds like an extension of “Ideas of Light.” It is hard to pick when one ends and the other begins.

If cohesion between the songs is what Jucifer was going for in the beginning of the album, they were successful. They fail to prove, however, that variety is the spice of life. It would be interesting to hear a difference between tracks.

But if you begin to think all is lost, listen to track four, titled “Haute Couture.” It is more upbeat with a fun drum rhythm that is unlike any past attempts from Jucifer. “The Shape of Texas” follows “Haute Couture” with a completely different style. Valentine begins to sing in a haunting and somber tone, and the song picks up speed soon after.

The track ”My Stars” proves the listener completely wrong if they think that War Bird may be monotonous. This song is country, through and through. There is a plucky guitar with Valentine singing a tale about growing up in America. And when you expect there to be some sort of heavy-metal breakdown deep within the song, you hear only folk lyrics and that plucky guitar.

War Bird is a battle against the ordinary, leaving the listener rooting for the creative intensity of Jucifer to beat out uniformity.