Sometimes, you catch yourself humming a melody, a tune and you don’t know where it came from. This happened to me the yesterday. On my way home and all of a sudden, I had this melody in my head, or rather yet, a guitar riff. I couldn’t get it outta my head and today, after work, I seemed to remember that it could be coming from an italian band. Twenty minutes later, I had found it: It was “Incubo di Morte” (“Nightmare of Death”) by NEGAZIONE.
Although I like the first EP, “Tutti pazzi”, a bit better, this is still mandatory Hardcore material of the grimmest and most serious sort. The track “Tutti pazzi” has got to be one of the most delirious moments of the genre, very similiar to DIE KREUZEN’s “All white”. But that’s not what you gonna hear in this post, haha. This second EP by Italy’s HC-superstars is great from a-z. The riffing is incredible, the tempo changes, the singing (like in “Tutto dentro”).
It’s been a rough week so far and I’m pretty sure you’ll be happy too when I’m making it short this time. NEGAZIONE – the band that however great sounding on vinyl, it’s nothing compared to the live show this crazy wild bunch could put up live. Poor you if you haven’t seen them on the legendary 1985 tour. Some of the most intense live moments I can recollect.
Too bad the lyric sheet is oversized and wouldn’t fit on my scanner, so I can’t reproduce it. If you want to donate some money for a new, bigger & better scanner, feel free to do so. I’d buy one myself if I needed one for my work or sex life.
I’m sure this has been re-released in some form. Buy it, okay? 3000 made of the original press, if I remember correctly (yeah, you could actually shift important quantities of these EPs back then).
Noi.mp3
Cannibale.mp3
Tutto dentro.mp3
Ancora qui.mp3
Incubo die Morte.mp3
29 Comments
You really have opened my eyes on this Italian hc, so good, so great. Almost as good as italian disco music from the 80s.
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I see in 1985 as opening for DOA in Milano, that was a better hardcore EP at moment, great show
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Completely amazing 7″. Love this one, the first one, and the first lp. Too bad they turned awful after that. I don’t know if this was ever reissued, but I do know this, the first, and the tracks from the split tape/lp with Declino are on that “The Early Days – Wild Bunch” lp put out on We Bite around 1989
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You usually post good stuff, but this is my favorite european hardcore EP of all time, hands down.
Beats me why Negazione is not one of the super cool cult bands of the 80′s. It does sound a bit like Die Kreuzen, but it’s better, in my opinion. This record also made my old band much better, because I started trying to copy it after I heard it. Thank you, Negazione.
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What band were you in, Pedro?
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Lucky guy, Marco. If I wasn’t 10 yrs old in 85 and lived in Italy…
What can I say, that song on the Declino split, “Irrazionalita Sconnessa”, fucking hell, I think i never heard something like that in my life…
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The band in question that tried to copy Negazione was called I Shot Cyrus. It was not in the 80`s though, it lasted from from 1997 til 2 weeks ago.
When the 80`s ended I was 11 and listening to Ramones, Toy Dolls and New Order, no Negazione yet…
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damn damn damn!
one of my all time top 5 hc records for sure. Par is right, there must have been something in the water in Italy that made them turn out not only some of the absolute craziest hardcore (negazione, wretched, declino, impact, ccm, raw power etc etc) but also the most freaked out electronic disco, zombie movies and the renaissance while they’re at it.
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I loved Negazione live. I arranged a gig with them and my old band in Sweden and then we joined them in Norway. On record I couldn’t get into them as much though Tutti… has it’s moments. But live they where pretty hot. If the bassist(was his name Marco?) ever get to read this I want to say Hi! He was a great funny guy.
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I love this shit.
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This mid ’80s americanophile european scene is one of the best ever scenes ever though it’s not celebrated enough. For me who didn’t live it, it seems like it had the best aspects of the pervious European and American hardcore without most of the bullshit from both parts. Of course, I’m idealising it, but it feels like early 80s american hardcore with more brains and (good) radicalism while retaining an european feel, but without so much of the anarchoholism and Discharge copying.
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Just wanted to comment on what Pedro wrote about how the (USHC influenced) European scene was (is) perceived. My impression, when I first heard that stuff about 20 years ago, was pretty similar: I found in the cutout bin of a record store in Tel Aviv both the Negazione 1st album and the “Emma” compilation and both made a lot of sense music, lyrics and attitude wise. I also really like the somewhat poetic “personal/ political” lyrics and approach of bands such as Negazione, Indigesti and CCM – along with the out-of-control vocals and music, they made Italian HC to be among the most passionate music ever recorded.
The 7″ was reissued by New Beginning, with inferior cover art and a different track. It also appears on the excellent “Wild Bunch” LP, along the other 7″ and their side of the split tape.
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In my humble opinion, they may have worn bandanas but I hear absolutely no tame american influence here at all – just righteous Italo-fury in keeping with the scenes that they came from .
Infused with flailing late 70′s Italian leftist social politics and barely controlled but clinically played seething aggression .
Remember we western europeans HATED america in the 80′s – long range nuclear weapons were on our sovereign soils and as such made us first targets in a european nuclear theatre , probably ignited by american fascist expansionism .
Central and Southern America had U.S. financed government toppling , uninvited invasions, proxy wars and US trained death-squads to ruin their countries – we europeans had the permanent threat of annihilation permeating all aspects of everyday life caused by the US bases/armies being here – DESPITE massive public opposition on a scale that made the anti-US invasion of Iraq demo’s look like a picnic in the park .
Italians will remember the Comiso peace-punk camp, and the weekly attacks on the US base there – the Germans will remember attacking those long long nuclear fuel delivery trains that snaked across europe through inhabited areas , in the UK there was many permanent peace camps like Greenham Common to demonstrate mainstream public opposition for the US nuclear bases there.
European punk/hardcore bands had a diverse and rich cultural pedigree with which to fashion their own very individualistic styles of punk .
Each country had (has) its own unique style and form in abundance, and didn’t need or want to sound like uninspired american drivel – why sound like you come from a country that you hate ?
Why sound like shitty sped-up Elvis ?
A 233 year old country is the civilised worlds baby boy ..covered in his own puke and shit and lashing out at the world thinking he knows best..
Negazione thankfully typified the unique ‘furious” Italian national style .
Their first UK tour , with the Depraved supporting , completely blew the place to pieces !
..crazy riffing..screaming fury..-
This is my favourite Negazione , more honed than the 1st and vicious as a barking dog – killer !
I don’t know anyone who saw Kobra on their short Uk tour, but that must have been pretty intense too ..
Q . Why do americans wonder why europeans hate them ?
A . You reap what you sow.
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I do’t know who you mean by “we western europeans”, but I can tell you that: WE all loved u.s. hardcore and so did our friends in Italy. It affected the entire italian h.c. a great deal.
And WE were able to set a certain u.s. foreign policy (for which at the time indeed I had little respect) apart from music, people etc. What WE hated though was nationalism. And I still do. “National style” – give me a fucking break.
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And I thought with Barack Obama in the White House, the anti-american gibberish would begin to disappear …. And now look at that.
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Like all prejudices, ressentments and clichés, anti-americanism does not refer to something “real” so much, James. It’s more of a mind-setting, I sometimes think: It works as a compass and a pattern to organize one’s chaotic world view a bit by the use of stereotypes. How do I know? I used to be a bit like that too (or maybe even more than a bit).
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admin;
By “national style” i simply meant the style that characterises Italian hardcore from German, or Swedish, or Finnish, or any other country’s hardcore …and its that unique style that makes it great .
I remain as anti-nationalistic in every respect as I ever was , and can only express views “in my humble opinion’ as they were perceived by myself and those around at the time .
Yes, of course it was (is) obviously natural to differentiate between unacceptable governmental foreign policy and great music and the average common person ..but it was (is) forced cultural hegemony that i found unacceptable- from the appearance of cities to the music produced ,the clothes we wear, the food we eat , the jobs we do, the nukes on the doorstep ,to the politics we must suffer ..
Purely objective opinions can be difficult when your’e trying to assess influences in a bands sound ..that’s surely why debate and comments columns are great .
All I am saying is that I prefer the European version of punk and that is a subjective opinion that you cannot dismiss just as I would not try to belittle or degrade your opinion should it be contrary or widely differing.
Likewise subjective memories about the political status quo and counter-events/culture in the early to mid 80′s were formed in the environment that I lived in .
That may have been, and probably was , different to yours – but i respect your different recollection of how things were from your point of view – it is simply and naturally different to mine and neither wrong nor right .
Generalisations – the use of “we’ , especially with the misinterpretations that differently perceived hindsight can give us (or not!) – can become overused, inaccurate to others, and in effect clumsy .
As always ,”in my humble opinion” and of course always subjective – histrionic in an attempt at humour maybe – but you will never find any nationalist shit here .
Regards .
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C’mon, Discoscheisser, you gotta be kidding me:
“but you will never find any nationalist shit here .”
vs.
“on our sovereign soils” (just one example)
Man, that sounds like it’s coming from the National Front …..
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bullshit, in Sweden we have liked americans a long time, it´s just Lars Ohly och Lars Werner-wannabes that dislikes the US.
And on the italio hc subject, it´s the vocals, as Federico wrote, that makes me just love all this stuff.
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From how I perceived it, Italian, Dutch and later some german bands where VERY US HC influenced. That’s why I found them bands way more interesting then all the swedish clones or finnish for that matter. I always thought the US bands had much more to deliver when it came to uniqueness, personality and originality then most European bands from 82 and onward. Seems like discoscheissser is stuck in an anti american attitude that includes EVERYTHING that has to do with the US.
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@discoscheissser:
I do understand and somehow sympathize with the “anti US imperialism†feeling you describe, although I still think that the oppressive forces you are perhaps trying to attack go beyond national borders (and there I agree with Peter that your position seems quite anachronistic). But what I do not understand at all is the “Why sound like shitty sped-up Elvis†bit. You honestly think that most of the good European HC/ punk bands of the period discussed weren’t HEAVILY influenced by US hardcore? Do you really believe that North American 80’s punk was “shitty sped-up Elvis?†And, assuming that would be the case (for a person actually into punk music, such statement sounds insane, but never mind), so what, non-American punk managed to somehow avoid said “Elvis†influence and created electric guitar based music out of nothing? You lost me there mate…
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admin;
Dont take the phrase;
” on our sovereign soils” out of the context that it was put in , or misinterpret my meaning in a repeatedly and biased negative slant .
It is a common everyday phrase without political leanings of any kind, and was used to highlight the fact that US missiles were based in proxy european countries and not on continental US territory…but i think you knew that.
As i have said , maybe histrionics are an attempt at humour, so i shall try to take the national front comment in the same light …thankfully the national front per se don’t exist anymore and belong to the same grim era as u.s cruise missiles based in europe ..but you probably know that also –
I imagine that the successors to the national front will also disappear through obvious lack of support for extremes of either wing .
It is after all your site, so your humour and opinions will always hold the sway …and for that reason alone perhaps they should.
If you would prefer me to keep my subjective opinions/humour/thoughts on music out of your comments page then of course I will, but i do not feel the need to explain myself to you who does not know me , or anything accurately about me.
Lastly my apology to you , if for whatever reason you would have preferred me not have written the original comment on what is your site .
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@ Discoscheisser: I follow a pretty liberal concept with the approval of comments. Anything can be said, just if it gets too repetitve, I will not publish a comment, but out of nearly 8000 comments, there were only a handful that I didn’t approve.
Originally, I wanted to comment the phrase “on our soil” with: “are you a farmer, discoscheisser?” haha.
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Damn , you can see straight through me admin ..
..Actually its less of a farm – ..more of a death camp really …built on the site on an old national front training camp .
Still , it keeps me busy between comments , and I love to work with people .
Must go , I think somethings burning..
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They recorded this at around the same time as we (Gepopel) did our EP; there’s a vague sonic similarity which must have something to do with the Emma warehouse’s big cavernous spaces. This EP’s great, but not quite the seismic shock of their Mucchio Selvaggio split tape if you ask me. Seemed like the whole punk scene changed literally overnight after their first Amsterdam gig; not just for the good (remember the handkerchiefs?)…
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hey there.i am wondering if anyone can help me with figuring the pressing info for this record- i have two versions , one has a two-piece paper sleeve, while the other has the ‘envelope’ or glued-style sleeve. any thoughts?
thanks a lot!
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My copy, which must be a first press, has a regular type of sleeve. Have never seen a different style sleeve. Could it be a bootleg?How do the labels look, what’s he etching in the running out groove?
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This seems to be the right place to talk about Fabrizio, drummer of Negazione und before that Upset Noise who passed away yesterday of a heart attack, aged 46. He leaves behind a beautiful partner and a 12 year old son. I hadn’t been in touch with Fabrizio for a really long time, at the very least 20 years, and he hadn’t been among the few Italian friends from back then I refriended ever since I stumbled upon Facebook (which in a way was a direct result of getting reaquainted with my roots, if you may call it that, through this fine blog here). Still, his passing is nagging at me something fierce. Maybe because I have a son, too. Maybe because Negazione were so fucking important to us ever since I saw them for the first time in 1984. They were the great communicators, the band that brought us all together, that made us travel to shows 800 kilometers away. They were the lifeline, the band that made European hardcore happen on the scale it did, without borders whatsoever. I fucking miss Fabrizio. May he rest in peace. And may his son grow up to be as cool as his dad.
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Thanks so much, Tomasso! I never knew him personally, but as you said – Negazione were such an important band for all of us. 46 ….. and a 12 years old son. Leaves one speechless.
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One Trackback/Pingback
[...] When later the same year, I saw NEGAZIONE live for the first time, these insane bastards started the set off with “Niente”. And that was exactly when I kinda lost consciousness. What a band. What a song. Whenever they played this live, the audience went beserk! And what a spectacular EP!! Without a doubt one, if not the, most radical EP of the italian HC grandezza. Every song is so intense, twisted, violent that I still can feel the total fascination I had for them guys 25 years ago. In fact, it was first more of a lovehate thing – this record seriously fucked with my head. Love won (for once) and never went away. Note: The songs are all attached to each other. I did split up the titles on the b-side though, cause it seemed possible. I left the a-side as one big ugly brutal chunk though. You’ll find the follow-up EP here. [...]
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