ZU - Ferrum Sidereum

A hugely powerful monolith, incendiary matter, ferrous, fused together in the precious alembics of two of the most skilled and enlightened alchemists we have in Italy. Massimo Pupillo and Luca T. Mai welcome, for the first time, Paolo Mongardi behind the drums on a record bearing the Zu name, a natural choice given his history with Fuzz Orchestra and Zeus!, as well as with Ronin, Jennifer Gentle, and Traum (here precisely alongside Luca Mai). Eighty magmatic, imposing, extremely dense minutes, marking Zu's return to the studio after more than six years of absence: that's how long it's been since "Terminalia Amazonia", even though in the meantime there were reissues of their early albums and a live record, "Jazzisdead Live", released as RuinsZu with Tatsuya Yoshida on drums. An unusually long gestation period that now yields a work of encyclopedic scope.

"Ferrum Sidereum" is jazzcore, it's metalcore, it's noise, it's math-rock, it's industrial, it's tribal-psych, it's shot through with electronic infiltrations, it has prog structures, it's savage, it's "sidereal iron", with a considerable specific weight. And above all it's a Zu record, exactly what you'd expect from a Zu album today, yet at the same time something capable of going further, surpassing everything Zu have managed to achieve so far. While we can't say for certain it's their masterpiece (it might well be, but let's let time decide), it's without doubt one of the most decisive records of their career. An arduous project, not for everyone, but one that any curious listener should try, to understand how jazz and metal can coexist in 2026, casting aside purism and moralizing.

Across the eleven tracks of "Ferrum Sidereum" a web is spun leading down unimaginable paths, both on Earth and in space, and within it lies an entire world, including echoes of the East (right in the middle of "A.I. Have Mind") and ecclesiastical choirs ("Golgotha"). There's a great deal of physicality, a sound that's at times unbearable, but also massive doses of spirituality, an evident need for purification, and a powerful symbolism, an obvious consequence of the personal histories of those involved.

Some references in the titles are borrowed from the New Testament ("Charagma", "La donna vestita di sole") or from Greek mythology ("Pleroma"): mysticism and eclecticism. The sound is thunderous, the sound of an avalanche, a ferocious intensity that nonetheless knows how to become enveloping, dissolving into brief, provisional moments of calm, as in the intro to "Fuoco Saturnio".

Baritone sax, bass and drums like a wall, a wall that shifts, moves, comes crashing down on you, brutally, leaving you defenseless. Maximalist, violent, a theatrical-tinged epic, rich in distortion and complex rhythms, on- and off-beats, shifting developments, apocalyptic crescendos, self-destructive symphonies, post-core, post-everything. A work that feeds on itself: with every listen you catch new elements and nuances never noticed before; a cosmic record, where "Carboniferous" — another band must — seemed 100% earthbound.

Helping to hold together the trio's manifold ideas, multiplying their impact, was the experience of Marc Urselli, a producer who has earned seven Grammy Award nominations, and on three occasions had the satisfaction of taking the statuette home.

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14/01/2026