Jucifer
За Волгой для нас земли нет

Their latest release,’ За Волгой для нас земли нет’ or ‘There is no land Beyond the Volga’ in English, refers to the battle of Stalingrad during the WW2, which is one of the most monstrous moments in human history. Nazi’s crimes in the Russian city and the death of millions triggered the Red Army’s rage and the Russians fought back for liberation. The record has achieved to gain some supportive and rejoicing reviews. Personally speaking, I’m not sharing the joyful mood about the record and I did not enjoy it to the full.

Honestly speaking, the record’s progression is too slow in my opinion, forcing me to stop the record and listen to the rest sometime later. The record is about one hour and twenty minutes long, and the jamming-like sounding of it doesn’t help at all. Actually the tracks are way too slow for a record that long. I feel the need to explain my opinion about drone which I separate from sludge-metal. Drone music needs to be atmospheric and actually feels great in EP’s and small records. Building a great concept album under the specific music label, it just doesn’t feel right. In conclusion, Jucifer recorded sixteen tracks, loaded with historical samples like speeches in Russian and managed to visualize history in music and pictures. The tracks are heavy, spontaneous and dark. It’s all about freely drumming and down-tuned guitars, along with Amber’s fury vocals. But not all the tracks include vocals. There are songs like ‘Song of the Waking City’ which are instrumental and approach a raw instrumental jamming.

I enjoyed songs like ‘Siberia’ and ‘Queen of Antlers’ isolated, but when it comes to the record as a whole, I found it tiresome and repeated. I already know how powerful Jucifer’s music is but I feel like ‘Throned In Blood’ for example is a much better record than ‘There is no Land Beyond the Volga’. However, I would recommend everyone to support their upcoming gig in Athens and in Thessaloniki because Jucifer is one of the most deadly sludge bands on stage.