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Rating: Jack Off Jill were active from 1993 to 2000 and went practically unnoticed in Italy. They released a handful of albums on an independent label before moving to Risk in 1997. The "major" period includes "Sexless Demons And Scars" and the subject of this review.
"Clear Hearts, Grey Flowers" is the darkest album of the series and the only one not heavily influenced by Bikini Kill. The "charismatic" leader of JOJ (as they initially chose to call themselves, later deciding on the name Jack Off Jill at the suggestion of friend Marilyn Manson), Jessicka, is essentially a riot grrrl, as demonstrated by her "kinderwhore" look, invented by Courtney Love and company, and the feminist imprint of her lyrics. However, she also has a dark personality mainly derived from the influence of The Cure and her friendship with Marilyn Manson. This grunge/gothic dichotomy strongly characterizes "Clear Hearts, Grey Flowers", which sees Jessicka's voice "personalizing" (if you listen to the rest of Jack Off Jill's albums, you'll notice very evident similarities between Jessicka's singing style and that of Kathleen Hanna, leader of the aforementioned Bikini Kill) and the band's sound maturing significantly.
The album opens with "When I Am Queen", the track that best reveals the group's artistic transformation. The intro is practically the aftermath of "Angels Fuck", the ghost track of the previous album, and relies on the sweet melody of a piano. But the atmosphere suddenly changes: tribal drums and Agent Moulder's guitar (the only guy in the line-up) enter and together lead to the verse, where Jessicka barely whispers and her voice is overshadowed by the guitar's noise conveying a sense of latent anger. In fact, Jessicka explodes in the chorus, shouting tragically: «I have to drown myself!». The song shows the more gothic-dark side of Jack Off Jill and is an excellent forerunner of the sound of Evanescence and other lesser gothic-metal bands that will trend later on. "Fear Of Dying" is a grunge-punk track with a sound akin to that of the Distillers, but it's sung in Marilyn Manson's style; "Nazi Halo" starts with a bass line similar to "Bluebell" by Babes In Toyland, but it's faster, and the song can be defined as a classic female punk metal.
From now on, Jessicka will radically diverge from the Bikini Kill model fully manifesting her own personality (as original as it may be). Her vocal style now resembles that of Brody Dalle of the Distillers, but the chronology of works doesn't help to understand if it was actually Jessicka who influenced Brody or vice versa. The same goes for both of their lyrics, which are raw, blood-soaked, and often share the theme of death. "Rabbiteen" has a grunge start in the vein of Nirvana but proceeds between gothic and Garbage-style electronics, an element that will often recur in the album. Grunge and gothic-metal mix again in equal parts in "Strawberry Gashes", an unremarkable track, and "Vivica", the most interesting melodically and from which we will hear echoes in the works of Evanescence and Lacuna Coil. "Author Unknown" balances between punk (in the rhythm section) and metal (in the guitars and vocal lines), but it's infused with feminine rage; "Witch Hunt" is instead the most experimental episode: Jessicka essentially speaks accompanied by the piano and disturbed by noises, juxtaposing words that generate a sense of happiness (dance, carnival) with others suggesting death and pain (graveyards, darkness). These oxymorons elevate her subdued cries: «I'm burning...I'm fucking burning». Undoubtedly among the best things on the record, both musically and lyrically. Electronics return in "Cinnamon Spider", a tableau with dark strokes reminiscent of the less ominous Marilyn Manson. The indie-rock guitars in "Underjoyed" are surprising, vaguely reminiscent of those of early Dinosaur Jr. (a somewhat bold comparison, but it conveys the idea well).
The pure gothic-rock flows inertly in "Surgery", "Star No Star", which begins indie-rock, and "Losing His Touch", whose lyrics deal with religious topics, as well as in the somewhat unconvincing title track. The album concludes with a tribute to The Cure: a metal cover of "Lovesong", clearly inferior to the original.
The overall assessment of the album is positive, although the sound is not particularly original.
Historically, Jack Off Jill can be said to be the link between the early '90s riot grrrl and today's female rock scene dominated by Brody Dalle.
Jessicka is currently involved with Scarling., a band halfway between gothic and alternative rock akin to My Bloody Valentine.
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