BLACK ENGINE

KU KLUX KLOWNS

  1/  I Hate Clowns                              (Black Engine)                            3.29
  2/  Ku Klux Klowns                             (Black Engine)                            3.34
  3/  Bones Circus                               (Black Engine)                            3.11
  4/  Fishtank Midget Surfer                     (Black Engine)                            3.33
  5/  A Wolf Day                                 (Black Engine)                            3.47
  6/  Cut It, Pack It, Ship It                   (Black Engine)                            4.17
  7/  Mene Tekel Peres                           (Black Engine)                            4.54
  8/  Controversy Over the East Bank             (Black Engine)                            6.23
  9/  The Humiliation of An Impotent God         (Black Engine)                            5.42
  10/ Ignite, Isolate                            (Black Engine)                            4.29

          Recorded and mixed at Locomotore Studio, Rome
          Engineered by Matteo "Speinzeit" Spinazze
          Mixed by Eraldo Bernocchi and Matteo "Speinzeit" Spinazze
          Produced by Black Engine
          Mastered by Michael Fossenkemper at Turtle Tone, New York City
Eraldo Bernocchi: guitar; Massimo Pupillo: bass; Jacopo Battaglia: drums; Luca Mai: alto & baritone saxophones.

          2007 - Wallace Records (Italy),  wallace88  (CD)

REVIEWS :

Well that title isn't a great start is it? Fortunately, jazz-metal nutjobs Black Engine are actually a good deal more interesting than their puns. This Italian quartet fuse low-end grindcore riffing with fuzz solos and, most jarringly of all, alto and baritone sax in a similar fashion to Nordic fusionists The Shining, albeit without the sophistication and finesse of those guys at their best. Instead, Black Engine are an altogether freer force, tapping into noise music's texture-driven concerns and abandoning the fixation on technique that would ordinarily arise from a fusion of improvisation and metal. While there's plenty of abrasive tonal damage on Ku Klux Klowns, the band keep their productions tight and clean at all times. This combined with the sense of light-heartedness that permeates the album means that it all feels fun and fresh throughout.

courtesy of the Boomkat website

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Black Engine is great Italian avant band Zu side project (in fact - Zu in full plus guitarist Eraldo Bernocchi), released till now just one album in 2007.

From very first sounds of this album you will be blown away by deep sound of Luca Mai's baritone sax ! And during all album sax is main soloing instrument, with warm or sharp, but always deep and strong sound. Music in whole is not very different from Zu play on their original albums, but there they gave themselves a chance to go deeper in noise, brutal,even metal sound without restrictions. So - besides of their usual free-jazz noise avant you can hear some really heavy moments here. I really like that low sax soling (in many places, where you expect to hear something like guitar shredding) and that explosive energy.

Being a bit similar to NY downtown free-jazz hardcore or Japanese brutal avant, main difference there is they really have that softer and better rounded Italian sound. Without any compromises though.

Album's music will catch you from very first sounds, but possibly somewhere in the middle of the album's long some of you will be a bit bored - sound is very intensive, but without big dynamic changes.And music is improvised, so no tunes or structured songs could be found there. But for those who can enjoy excellent enthusiastic and complex improvs on the borderline of hardcore and free-jazz, this album is a real pleasure.

It's a pity this release stays in the shadow till now, not too many avant fans know about its existence. I can really recommend it to every Zu fan! BTW, it looks this project is still active today, so it's always a chance that new album will be released.

4 out of 5 stars

snobb (courtesy of the Prog Archives website)