It hasn't been easy for collectors and fans of the cult Italian anarcho/experimental hardcore band Contropotere to find their releases, most of them having gone out of print yeras ago. I was excited to find out that their 1989 album Nessuna Speranza Nessuna Paura had been reissued recently on the Italian label Gonna Puke Retro, though, and went after it as soon as I could get a hold of the label. Contropotere were never very well known over here in the US, but their combination of anarcho-punk, thrash metal, industrial music, and psychedelia was pretty unique when they started out in the late 80s, foreshadowing the kind of experimentation that would become a lot more commonplace in the following decade with bands like Neurosis, PESD, N�da and Galloping Coroners.

Back when this Lp first came out, Contropotere would get these comparisons to Amebix, mainly because of their connection to the squatter punk culture and their use of synthesizers I suppose, which were still a rarity in crust/hardcore circles at the time. They didn't really sound anything like Amebix though, the music on Nessuna Speranza is so much weirder and more experimental, the lyrics screamed/sung in Italian, the whole album cloaked in this really reverb-heavy production, and the band weaves through a myriad of sounds and styles here in a manner that didn't resemble anything else in hardcore punk at the time. The opening track "Urizen" begins with clanking chains and metallic percussion while a female voice slowly chants over it, an ominous, occult vibe permeating the sound. Then the band goes into the actual song, a gloomy, goth-tinged form of Italian hardcore punk that's fast and ferocious, with angry male and female vocals, breaking down into some rocking mid-tempo parts laced with awesome speed metal style guitar solos, and then ends with the sound of random voices and percussion. Then there's the nine minute "Inquisitor" where they start off all Sabbathy and doom laden, a slow creeping hardcore dirge overlaid with witchy screams and growled male vocals, but then later launches into another fast hardcore assault with weird effects, more chanting voices, and some somewhat complex bass playing that leads this into an unexpected psych-rock freak-out where they drop into a long stretch of tribal drumming. The thrash picks back up from there, and leads into "Demoni E Dei"'s strange mix of flamenco guitar, folky violin and psychedelic delay effects and tape noise that are mixed in with samples of tribal shaman and a heavy, dirgey riff before blasting off yet again into more thrashpunk. The album keeps shifting from the thrash into rumbling industrial noise, odd metallic dirges, and chanting vocals, bringing us to the second side where things get even more "out".

This second half starts with the operatic prog-crust of "Disumana Res" where swirling guitars and keyboards meet those dramatic female vocals, thunderous double bass drumming and dark doom-laden guitars, moving into some lurching thrash that later on gives way to a solo piano piece that ends the song. "Non Indietreggiare" is another epic track that starts with a kind of baroque prog-folk played on accordion, piano, and strings, but builds into grinding metallic crust that closes with a quick flurry of classical piano, and the closing title track has eerie chimes ringing out as effects-heavy guitars and processed vocals swoop in, the slow pounding drums taking this into an abstract noisy jam where spoken word vocals rise over the atonal scrape of guitar strings, plodding bass, and pounding Neubaten-esque industrial percussion that transforms into a pummeling Swans-like dirge.

Released in a limited edition of seven hundred and fifty copies, and includes a fold-out poster/lyric sheet. Please note - all of the copies that I received from the label arrived here with slightly dinged corners and some minor corner creases. Nothing too serious, but please be aware of this if you're really particular about this sort of thing