CARBONIFEROUS

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Zu is a three-piece band making music bred from the experimental combination of several genres including, among others, technical metal and free-jazz. This blend of styles creates a mind-blowing and intense sound more menacing and striking than most music I've ever heard. As I write this review, Carboniferous is the band's most recent creation.

Notable is the somewhat unconventional lead here, which is Luca Mai's baritone saxophone that proves to be very suitable to this kind of heavy music, performing some fierce shrieks and deep, heavy growls. The rhythm section as well is important for the distinctive sound created here. It's a very strong one, consisting of Jacopo Battaglia's aggressive drumming and Massimo Pupillo's bass playing, which often has a thick sound and frequently is distorted. Apart from playing the drums, Jacopa Battaglia also is responsible for the electronics and even some mellotron, that manage to give the album a somewhat amospheric feel.

Zu's intense sound can already be heard in the first riff of the heavy opener "Ostia", with it's distorted bass and dissonant saxophone playing, reminding one of free-jazz. The majority of music on the album is in this vein, dynamic and intense, though it still maintains a diverse feel and keeps me completely interested even after the many times I've listened to it. Also worth mentioning are the collaborations with other musicians on this album, among them Mike Patton's vocal performance on "Soulolympics" and King Buzzo's (Melvins) guitar playing on "Chthonian".

After the many times I've listened to Carboniferous it still manages to amaze me. This might have something to do with the energetic and intense sound Zu creates here, which is an unique and distictive one. I'd recommend this album to those who might enjoy a combination of the dissonance of free-jazz and the monstrous power of a heavy rhythm section.

When you think of a "Power Trio" you usually imagine bass, drums and guitar or bass, drums and organ right ? Well this Italian band hits us with bass, drums and sax. The sax is disturbed I might add. Hey this is Rio / Avant so that's not so surprising. I've read some complaints about the sound quality, mainly because there is often so much distortion it comes off simply as being noise. It's not pleasant. I personally can't get into most bands that I would classify as noisy, it's just not my scene. If it wasn't for the last two tracks I would have a hard time giving this 3 stars.

"Ostia" opens with pounding drums and low end noise. It picks up then we get some dissonant sax a minute in.Then it gets even noisier.Themes are repeated half way through. "Chthonian" turns noisier and heavier before a minute. A lot of distortion here. It picks up 2 minutes in. I feel a headache coming on. It settles 5 minutes in thankfully but it's not for long. "Carbon" features this distorted beat. It settles before 1 1/2 minutes and some weird sax joins in. "Beata Viscera" is better.The drums and bass sound fairly normal as the sax joins in.

"Erinys" has some killer drumming in it. Too much noise though. "Soulympics" has a good rhythm as creepy vocals join in. "Axion" is loud, dark and noisy. I like the sax 3 minutes in with that powerful under-current. "Mimosa Hostilis" is uptempo. A repetitive beat before 2 minutes comes in. Screaming sax late. "Obsidian" is an excellent track. I like the sound after 3 minutes. It ends in a spacey way. "Orc" opens with atmosphere as different sounds come and go including birds, water, dogs and so on. Sounds are building 2 1/2 minutes in. It settles back to a very atmospheric mood to end it.

I'd love to hear an album full of tunes like the last two tracks.This is just too noisy for me.