Black Dio Review

Quick Access

Review / Favorite Track / For Fans Of / Atmosphere Levels / Links (Music & Social)

Overfuzzed Groovy Doom that'll Stone You to Death !

I assume most of you are familiar with the killer trio Black Rainbows, who’s representing very well the Italian Heavy Psych scene, along with their label (Heavy Psych Sounds).

The last time they came in Nantes, Mr. Fuzz and I went to see them and spent most of our time chatting with them. At some point, Giuseppe, the bass player, talked to us about his other project, Black Dio, much doomier/dronier than Black Rainbows. Their rehearsing process is quite insane : their drummer (if I remember correctly) lives pretty far from the other two so he has to drive six hours to spend the whole weekend locked up together, jamming and smoking.

With a description like that, I knew I could only love it. Even if it took me some time to try and find the band (I don’t have a good memory, especially after gigs high on the purple haze level ), once I listened to it, I loved it instantly !

How is the sound ?

THICK! You can feel some Black Rainbows vibe in here, but pushed to the extreme regarding the greasy tone. Sure it loses some energy in the process, but maaaaan, if this does not nail you to the floor of your basement, sweating fat from all the pores of your skin, I don’t know what will…

There’re only three songs on the Soundcloud page so far, but all are above the twelve-minute mark, so you’ll get almost 50 minutes of hazy greasy groovy lazy tunes to enchant your ears (I guess we can call it an LP then ?).

And the groove… did I tell you about the groove ? I know I’m not always objective when it comes to groove and bass, but there’s something in that sound that’ll make your soul vibrate, note after note, line after line.

Combined with the punchy laid back drums, it provides the perfect base for the guitar to go and explore the universe, beyond the barriers of time and reason, giving it either a drone or a sludgy feel, or even both at times. The whole thing is livened with gnarly distant vocals and spacey samples.

But understand me clearly here, you’ll have to let yourself go with the flow, let the songs unravel all their mysteries, abandoning any notion of time.

Why is this album worth listening ?

• Fuzz pushed to 11
• They have a special touch that makes their sound recognizable, similar to Black Rainbow’s, special Italian trademark maybe ?

In what situation you should listen to this album ?

“Remember: headphones and blunt” – A wise man.