PIOGGIA NERA – “Danze Dei Miserabili” LP

PIOGGIA NERA’s music on this staggering record is essentially a continuation of Nerorgasmo’s sepulchral and cemeterial ancestral hardcore punk, but with a goth and post-punk twist and a slight Burzum-esque black metal slant to it. The themes of the album obsessively dwell upon the death, decline and disintegration of society, always conveying their message though the language of misery and gloom. The vocals are almost corpse-like and the riffs sound depressed, emaciated and corroded by loss and starvation. But there is a primordial anger at the core, a sinister energy to the album. You can hear clear horror-punk and death rock influences from the Misfits, Germs, Adolescents, T.S.O.L., Christian Death and early Death SS slithering out, just as you can hear the finest hour of anarcho punk – Crass and Rudimentary Peni – permeate the sound of this band, as well plenty of crust and post-punk, especially Amebix, Killing Joke, Joy Division and Antisect all coming to life in their sound. What is most incredible is the atmosphere of the record: pure dread and complete ruin. The rhythms are sustained, but slow enough to evoke a sense of progressing death and of rotting away, or of barely breathing. The vocals are completely wretched and the lyrics are a constantly hallucinating bark, the voice of a mad man croaking disgusting and scary stories of plague and the apocalypse in your ears. In other words, this album is absolutely TIMELESS, and showcases a style and personality that you rarely see around these days. From the songwriting, to production, to the lyrical themes, to riffing and choice of sounds, moods and atmosphere, everything on this album screams raw personality and pure dedication to a vision of the world and to a conceptual realm of punk rock that lives solely within the minds of these four musicians. Let the black rain fall!