Walking around last years ATP’s Nightmare Before Christmas festival there were an abundance of ghoulish people donning Zu hoodies, their emblem being a blood dripping axe. I’d foolishly already missed these guys in action. Luckily I’ve got a hold of their latest record. Carboniferous is a deluge of sound; murderous violence reaping out its revenge. Huge Godflesh like bass lines throb over psycho terrifying sax solos, whilst incorporating almost rave beats, like on opener 'Ostia'; the heavy trembling bass is almost as if Lightning Bolt and Holy Fuck have gone to hell and back with a sax. So there is some definite heavy groove in there fleshed out amongst the strange, morgue lingering world. It is brilliantly experimental, in a John Zorn head fuck kind of way. There are no side orders of salad with this record, it is pure meat, dripping slabs of malevolence, and, what appear to still be living bits of gristle and sinew, bones and fingers, writhing in madness in front of you, and creeping behind.Formed in Rome in 1997, Zu have released 14 albums, and are very much collaboration enthusiasts. Sir Mike Patton himself guests on this record, check out 'Soulympics', he digs out all his best squeals for this one. Zu are an obvious inspiration of his and musicianship is the key, and this three person horror film is grounded in composing and theatre. Each track has muscle beyond belief, 'Chthonian' moving seamlessly between head crushing bass to eerie shadow worship in a second. If you sleep with the light on this isn’t for you. Carbiniferous is the onset of a nightmare, building in dramatic blows to the head, through the slap bass craziness of 'Beata Viscera', the industrial monster 'Axion', where the sax sounds like it is being bludgeoned, then strangled. To play a sax so imperfectly takes more precision than doing it right. It’s noise rock, brutal metal, experimental jazz, all in one pot. Take a dip, you’ll feel the bloodlust soon I’m sure. 72%Zu on MySpace