Article by: Leanne Ridgeway
The planets have aligned and space itself has opened up to grace us with the heavy roll of the Savona, Italy-based psychedelic fuzz-rock unit BLACK ELEPHANT as they drop their latest album ‘Seven Swords‘ today via Small Stone Records. It delivers an addictive assortment of classic-minded, heavy rocking tunes, picking the best the ’70s, ’90s, and ’00s had to offer in riffery and melding spacey psych-rock blowouts with desert-hued hooks.
The Italian fuzzmongers mark 10 years of cooperative corporeal existence in 2020, and ‘Seven Swords‘ is the second LP BLACK ELEPHANT has issued in league with Detroit-based imprint Small Stone Records and is out today, August 21st.
Whether it’s the scorching leads of “Yayoi Kusama” or the conscious wink-and-nod of “Red Sun And Blues Sun” a short time later – just ahead of the bluesy “Seppuku” and the near-nine-minute stretch of closer “Govinda” – BLACK ELEPHANT brings their finest work to date in an efficient seven-track, thirty-three-minute stretch, building not only on what they accomplished on ‘Cosmic Blues‘, but also what their prior two full-lengths – 2014’s ‘Bifolchi Inside‘ and 2012’s ‘Spaghetti Cowboys‘ – were building toward.
This is a band coming into their own, wasting neither their time nor yours in the process. Fuzz pedals preach on, the sky cracks, and the riffs themselves seem to lock bellies in sumo battles, so what the hell? The world’s ending anyway. You might as well have some fun with it.
Tracklist:
01. Berta’s Flame
02. The Last March of Yokozuna
03. Yayoi Kusama
04. Mihara
05. Red Sun and Blues Sun
06. Seppuku
07. Govinda
BLACK ELEPHANT‘s ‘Seven Swords‘ was recorded and mixed by Giulio Farinelli at Green Fog Studio in Genoa, and mastered by Farinelli at Everybody On The Shore Studio in Milan, Italy, with additional mastering by Chris Goosman at Baseline Audio Labs in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The record is available on CD and digitally via Small Stone Records, as well as limited edition vinyl via Kozmik Artifactz. To order ‘Seven Swords‘, visit one of the following locations:
Small Stone Records: Americas | Kozmik Artifactz: Europe
BLACK ELEPHANT:
Alessio Caravelli – Guitar, Vocals
Massimiliano Giacosa – Guitar
Marcello Destefanis – Bass
Simone Brunzu – Drums
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