Undoubtedly en route to somewhere as they perpetually seem to be, nomadic duo Jucifer (originally from Georgia) stopped in at Akdar Studios in Bernville, PA, in June 2009 to put the four tracks to tape that would become their portion of a Choking Hazard Records split with Montreal natives Show of Bedlam, for whom the split marks their first outing. Jucifer’s four songs are raw and more aggressive than their Relapse studio material has been over the last couple albums, and Show of Bedlam take traditional doom rock plod and add a modern sense of foreboding to it that comes across through the roughness of their own production.

What the two bands have in common is female vocalists. Jucifer’s Amber Valentine offers Khanate-style screams on rumbling slowed-down opener “Hiroshima,” and settles into a thrashing semi-shout thereafter, where Paulina Richards from Show of Bedlam keeps a more melodic edge to her voice à la Made Out of Babies’ much-lauded singer Julie Christmas, though the music behind her is far less given to experimentation and a track like “Miss Johnny Shirt” is left mostly to Richards to make it stand out. She does, if in a way we’ve heard before. Show of Bedlam’s five tracks are distinguished by their pace and empty feeling – feeling, not sound – and where Jucifer brought distorted chaos and frenzied riffing on the Napalm Death-esque 59-second cut “Good Provider,” the relative stillness of Show of Bedlam closing cut “Doppelganger” feels drawn entirely from a different universe.

Read more »