Today ZU reveal their complete new album “Ferrum Sidereum“
(Produced by Marc Urselli)

Today, on January 9, 2026, Italian instrumental trio ZU release & stream their complete new double-album “Ferrum Sidereum” (“Iron of the Stars”). https://spkr.store/collections/zu

The seventeenth full-length (counting collaborations) from the bold musical explorers was produced by Marc Urselli. Album details of “Ferrum Sidereum“ can be viewed below.

ZU comment: “Now that we are rehearsing the album and are listening to it with a bit of a break in between, we have come to realise, it might be the very record that we have always wanted to make”, Massimo Pupillo relates. “On ‘Ferrum Sidereum’, all the rhythmic research from the band’s first ten years with harmonic and timbral explorations have been fused with our next phase – the House of Mythology trilogy – complete with synths, samples, harmonic progressions, layering, and beyond. Sometimes, when we re-listen to the tracks and learn how to play them live, we are gripped by a sense of disbelief: Did we really do this?”

Tracklist
1. Charagma
2. Golgotha
3. Kether
4. A.I. Hive Mind
5. La Donna Vestita Di Sole
6. Pleroma
7. Fuoco Saturnio
8. The Celestial Bull and the White Lady
9. Hymn of the Pearl
10. Perseidi
11. Ferrum Sidereum

Italian jazz metal trio ZU return with “Ferrum Sidereum”, an instrumental double album that continues their tradition of freely blending genres to fit their musical intentions. Their music combines the complexity of progressive rock, the grit of industrial, the precision of metal, the energy of punk, and the intelligence of jazz. The result is a sonic journey that is as cerebral as it is visceral, defying easy categorisation while remaining unmistakably ZU.

“Ferrum Sidereum”, which translates from Latin as “iron of (or from) the stars” refers to meteoric ore, which had a deep spiritual significance in ancient times and is contained in such artifacts as Egyptian ritual objects with Tutankhamun’s meteoric iron dagger as the best known example or in some Tibetan “Phurpa” blades. Iron coming from the stars forms the elemental base that shapes ZU‘s otherworldly narrative on this album.

The trio spent over a year refining this proliferating 80-minute epic through relentless rehearsals and live studio recordings in the city of Bologna. Before this happened, string-master Massimo Pupillo and drummer Paolo Mongardi spent two years exploring a new musical language in a gritty basement in Imola, near Bologna. Never missing a single rehearsal, gradually the first songs emerged, along with the imagery that inspired and guided ZU throughout their creative process. It soon emerged that the tracks had to be epic and needed space to live and breathe, meaning they would not conform to today’s algorithm-driven norms.

The last piece of the musical puzzle fell into place when three-time Grammy-winning sound engineer Marc Urselli expressed interest in recording and potentially producing ZU‘s next album through a mutual friend. This opportunity immediately caught the band’s attention, as they had never before worked with a producer and recognized the need for someone capable of guiding them to create an 80-minute album without the budget of PINK FLOYD’s “The Wall”.

Marc Urselli is well known for working with artists ranging from mainstream icons to experimental pioneers such as LAURIE ANDERSON, LOU REED, and MIKE PATTON as well as curating the “Ramones Redux” Redux Series installment and the traditional throat-singing meets metal compilation “SteppenDoom” for sister label Magnetic Eye Records. Urselli’s direction proved to be a perfect fit, streamlining the recording process and pushing ZU to perform nearly the entire album live in the studio. Band and producer balanced raw intensity with refined production tweaks and textures. The result is a contemporary, rich, and immersive sound that defines “Ferrum Sidereum”.

ZU were founded in 1999 and already released their debut full-length “Bromio” the same year. The following years of the instrumental trio were filled with musical explorations both on recordings and live concerts that steadily earned them a large fanbase more interested in exciting music than a particular style. Their collaboration with iconic FAITH NO MORE and MR. BUNGLE frontman Mike Patton on their 2009 album “Carboniferous” made a significant impact and raised the Italians’ status.

While it would have been easy to capitalise on that success by continuing in the same vein, ZU chose a different path. They took a break to travel the world and returned with an ambitious trilogy of albums released on House of Mythology: the orchestral and Pink Floyd-inspired album entitled “Jhator” (2017), an acoustic record created with David Tibet under the name ZU93 with the title “Mirror Emperor” (2018), and the fully electronic project incorporating field recordings of voices captured firsthand in the Amazon named “Terminalia Amazonia” (2019).

Following this trilogy, ZU progress by leaning on their electric roots again, spawning a wealth of new sounds and influences discovered during their journeys. Through a spontaneous and organic creative process, ZU forged a fresh and innovative sound that seamlessly intertwines many layers of the Italian trio’s musical heritage, drawing from progressive rock, metal, and industrial genres. “Ferrum Sidereum” beckons to discover a new musical universe!

Band: ZU
Album title: Ferrum Sidereum
Style: Jazz Metal
Release date: January 9, 2026
Label: House of Mythology
Review impact date: December 1, 2025

Line-up
Massimo Pupillo – electric bass, 12-string guitar
Luca T. Mai – baritone saxophone, synth, keyboards
Paolo Mongardi – drums, acoustic & synth percussion

Produced by Marc Urselli
Recording by Marc Urselli at Fonoprint Studios in Bologna (IT)
Assistance & additional tracking at Fonoprint Studios in Bologna (IT)
by Claudio Adamo, Lorenzo Stecconi & Enrico Baraldi
Mixing by Marc Urselli at Audio Confidential in New York, NY (US)
Mastering by Claudio Adamo at Fonoprint Studios in Bologna (IT)

Artwork & layout by Sunshine Posho