La Tua Morte Non Aspetta

My first approach with Wretched was with the "libero di vivere, libero di morire" lp that someone taped to me in the mid 90s'. This is one of those unfuckwithable classics that everyone but me seems to have in the highest regards when it comes to euro hardcore from the early days. I can't really stand that record. I don't like the production and Gianmario's vocals irritate me. Plus the uber dramatic lyrics and militant attitude of the band (keep in mind that my first listening happened during the ultra PC nineties glory days) was enough to keep my interest pretty low.

Over the years I gave to the earlier eps a try but the only one I do really love is the "in nome del loro potere tutto è stato fatto". The over the top wall of noise that this ep creates is unbelievable.

That being said, I never gave the later Wretched material a chance. Until last month. While pre-ordering the Diserzione ep, I've noticed that Lovehate80 was also repressing Wretched 12" ep "la tua morte non aspetta". I thought "why not?" and decided to finally give it a try.

What an idiot I've been! I can't believe I missed such a solid record for all these years! Usually people have mixed feelings about this 12" and when it comes to Wretched, "la tua morte non aspetta" is not one of the records that get usually mentioned. How many times have you heard someone tagging later Wretched as "metal"? Well, that's bullshit. Of course compared to the earlier material the main difference is the super clean production and yeah, songwriting is more "mature" compared to the wild days of the band but for sure this ain't metal! Even lyrics got a more personal approach. Just ugly, gloomy, downtuned and dark hardcore way ahead of its time. Perhaps this is why this ep doesn't get the attention it deserves. A record that sweats tons of pessimism, failure and negativity from every single note. Shame on me for waiting so long before checking it.

Limited to 500 copies, this reissue comes with a bonus track on side B, "tanti giorni" which is a more canonical Wretched track. For the rest it's a perfect reproduction of the original since, even aesthetically, this record looks perfect.