Drastique (formerly known as Drastic) is an

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

gothic metal Gothic metal (or goth metal) is a fusion genre combining the aggression of heavy metal with the dark atmospheres of gothic rock. The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different styles of heavy met ...

band from Italy with

progressive metal Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad :Fusion music genres, fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven s ...

and

symphonic black metal Symphonic black metal is a subgenre of black metal that emerged in the 1990s and incorporates symphonic and orchestral elements. Notable symphonic black metal bands include Cradle Of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, Emperor, and Carach Angren. History ...

influences.

Biography

Drastique was founded as a

one-man band A one-man band is a musician who plays a number of instruments simultaneously using their hands, feet, limbs, and various mechanical or electronic contraptions. One-man bands also often sing while they perform. The simplest type of "one-man ban ...

in 1995 by Chris Buchman with the name Drastic. The only demo of the band, ''Creator of Feelings'', was released in September 1995 in 200 copies with a black and white cover and then reissued in 1996 by Beyond Productions with a color cover. The demo featured Chiara Donaggio on female vocals and was produced by Marco Biolcati, vocalist and guitar player of the bands Wrest and Blackburn. ''Creator of Feelings'' was selected as "best demo" by

Metal hammer ''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' features news, reviews and long-form ...

magazine, Metal Shock magazine and Flash magazine. In 1998 Drastic released on Beyond Productions its debut album titled ''Thieves of Kisses'', featuring Alessia De Boni / Pamsy and Chiara Donaggio on female vocals. The album was recorded at Nadir Studios in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

, Italy and was produced by Tommy Talamanca, guitar and keyboard player of the band Sadist. ''Thieves of Kisses'' was selected by a journalist of the popular music magazine

as "Best Italian Album of the Year" and can be considered one of the first Italian

avant-garde metal Avant-garde metal (also known as avant-metal, experimental metal, and experimental) is a subgenre of heavy metal music loosely defined by use of experimentation and innovative, avant-garde elements, including non-standard and unconventional soun ...

releases. In 2000 Drastic rearranged and performed the song "Black Mass" by

Death SS Death SS (later also intended as a contraction of In Death of Steve Sylvester) is an Italian heavy metal band. Biography Death SS was formed in 1977 in Pesaro by Steve Sylvester (born Stefano Silvestri), a future member of the Ordo Templi Ori ...

: the song was featured on the tribute album ''Beyond the realms of Death SS'', published by Black Widow Records. In 2003 Drastic changed the name into Drastique and released (once again on Beyond Productions, the label of such bands as Sadist and

Theatres Des Vampires Theatres des Vampires is an Italian gothic metal band, mostly noted for the predominant theme of vampirism within their lyrics. The band's early material was credited as melodic black metal or symphonic black metal, but the group completely aba ...

) the album ''Pleasureligion'' featuring the female vocalist Fay and the male vocalist Mahavira (formerly of Ensoph), even if some male parts were performed by Chris Buchman, who has written and performed the instrumental parts and is the author of the lyrics, written in English,

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and Italian, with numerous poetic and philosophical quotations. The album was released in a limited

digipak Optical disc packaging is the packaging that accompanies CDs, DVDs, and other formats of optical discs. Most packaging is rigid or semi-rigid and designed to protect the media from scratches and other types of exposure damage. Jewel case A ...

version and in a jewel case version. The CD is distributed by Masterpiece Distribution in Italy and by Adipocere,

Relapse In internal medicine, relapse or recidivism is a recurrence of a past (typically medical) condition. For example, multiple sclerosis and malaria often exhibit peaks of activity and sometimes very long periods of dormancy, followed by relapse or r ...

and

Century Media A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

worldwide. In 2004, the album has been licensed to CD Maximum for Russia and Eastern Europe.

Discography

Studio albums

*'' Thieves of Kisses'' (1998) *'' Pleasureligion'' (2003) *'' Let Your Life Pass You By''(2012)

Demo

*'' Creator of Feelings'' (1995)

Compilations

*'' Screams from Italy Vol. II'' (1996) *'' Black Tears of Death Vol. I'' (1996) *'' Florilegium Insanie'' (1999) *'' Beyond the Realms of Death SS'' (2000) *'' Metallian Sampler n.29'' (2003) *'' Loud Souds n.11 – Rock Hard Magazine'' (2003)

Members

Current line up

* Chris Buchman – vocals, guitar, bass guitar, keyboard, drums (1995–present) * Fay – female vocals (2002–present) * Mahavira – male vocals (2002–present)

Former members

* Chiara Donaggio – female vocals (1995–2001) * Alessia De Boni – female vocals (1997–2001)

References

External links

Official website

Drastique at Myspace

Drastique
at

Encyclopaedia Metallum Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives (commonly known as Metal Archives per the URL or abbreviated as MA) is an online encyclopedia based upon musical artists who predominantly perform heavy metal music along with its various sub-genres. E ...

Drastique at Metal Weave

Drastique at Beyond Productions (label)

Drastique
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

Drastique
at

MusicBrainz MusicBrainz is a MetaBrainz project that aims to create a collaborative music database that is similar to the freedb project. MusicBrainz was founded in response to the restrictions placed on the Compact Disc Database (CDDB), a database for sof ...

{{Authority control Italian gothic metal musical groups Symphonic black metal musical groups Avant-garde metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1995 Italian progressive metal musical groups