Black Elephant – Bifolchi Inside

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BLACK ELEPHANT is Savona, Italy’s answer to the question “How come there aren’t more bands that sound like BLACK LABEL SOCIETY?” BLACK ELEPHANT have a severely sludgy and raw brand of hard rock that has a self-described stoner metal vibe to it. This is the blue-collar, cattle ranch style of hard rock you should anticipate on their debut album “Bifolchi Inside.” This is BLACK ELEPHANT’s first album since their formation in 2010. This is their second release aside from their 2012 EP “Spaghetti Cowboys”.

The closest English translation of the word “bifolchi”, according to Google Translate, is “yokel”, or rather its plural form “yokels” (e.g. some folk’ll never lose a toe but then again, some folk’ll. Like Cletus, the slack-jawed yokel!) You wouldn’t want to be described as a yokel, dear readers. Yokels, or rednecks, as they are referred to in the U.S., are not necessarily bright or racially or spiritually tolerant nor should they be held responsible to procreate outside of their own family tree. But don’t tell that to BLACK ELEPHANT. The title “Bifolchi Inside” seems to give the impression that there is a sense of pride in being a yokel. But what kind of person takes pride in being anti-intellectual and arrogantly proud of not having culture? Italy is up to its neck in culture and history so for BLACK ELEPHANT to affiliate themselves with this opposition seems absurd from a North American standpoint.

I want to firstly go over some things that you should look forwards to on the album “Bifolchi Inside”. First off, you will find a lot of really slick and flashy guitar solos. Certain ones that stand out to me are off the songs “Dr. Fuck,” “Cowboys” and “Pornoland.” Secondly, and this deserves its own mention, are BLACK ELEPHANT’s guitar section altogether beefy and thick with tone. They truly know how to lay down a solid groove with a ton of Southern-fried flavor you’d never expect to find in Italy or anywhere in Europe for that matter. Thirdly, I think their name, BLACK ELEPHANT, is pretty damn cool even though I have no clue what it represents. 


Lyrically, only from what I can understand, the music of BLACK ELEPHANT is immature. The song “Crew of Death” is a perfect example of this juvenile attempt at writing. Really the only phrase I can clearly make out in this song are the phrase “fuck your bitch!” It’s distinct because they say it on the end of every measure of the verse that leads up to the chorus. As I’ve stated before, the quickest way to prove how disingenuous you are as an artist is to gratuitously swear in your lyrics. It may work for rap music but it is a huge turn off for me. It shows the utmost lack of inspiration and creativity as a musician or artist.


Although this music is marketed as stoner metal and southern metal, much of this music sounds like nu-metal to me. The way that the riffs are very simplistic and groove-driven really gives me the vibe I would normally get from bands like SOULFLY, DROWNING POOL and SOIL.I can certainly hear the hard rock influences like MÖTLEY CRÜE and CLUTCH but it just seems like music that appeals to the simplest, most recognizable images and symbols from the old school days of hard rock. Some people still find this cool, I just see it as weird and sad. 

This music was uninspiring for me. I cannot give this a recommendation whatsoever but that’s not saying that its terrible. There are parts of this I feel like appeal to a sizable crowd in their home country. But I really thought Italians were supposed to be more cultured than the Southern U.S. Please, BLACK ELEPHANT, stop trying to take after the redneck aesthetic. Next thing you know, they might be putting ho-down fiddles into their music like PANOPTICON! Being as it may, looking like a hillbilly doesn’t look good on anybody no matter where you come from.