Drastique
Pleasureligion

"AND THEN THE GOAL...THE GOAL BY FABIO GROSSO!!! MY GOD...MY GOD, FABIO GROSSO!!!!! FABIO...FABIO GROSSO!! FABIO GROSSO!!! FABIO GROSSO!!!!" and at that moment some of us (me...) were very likely paraphrasing Mayhem growling, "Alemannia Capta Est"!! (For the record, if anyone missed it, the conquest of Germany was then completed in the following, unforgettable, night in Berlin against the French cousins). What a satisfaction, that victory in the semi-final against the Germans, against those who have always mocked us with "pizza and mandolin", what joy, what thrill, what climax... Football-wise superior! Period.

But there is one thing, truly, that the krauts have always done better than us: electro-goth music. That hunz hunz black-plastic kind, to be clear; and they even have the most beautiful clubs, if not festivals specially for this; and perhaps even the most beautiful girls for this type of music. Apologies to Italian women, whom I consider the most beautiful in the entire universe (who said the magnificent Elena Alice Fossi???), but generally a German goth girl is almost always a goddess, while an Italian goth girl is almost always a water heater covered in lace...

This little disc by the Venetian Drastique had been forgotten among my CDs since the distant 2003, the year it was released by Beyond Productions. Listened to it then only once, and, unfortunately, it fell into my hands today due to major room cleaning. I put it back in the player more out of curiosity than anything else, perhaps to see if my impressions had changed over the years... No way! Bursting laughter at the start, deadly boredom and shredded nerves till the end. Originally Drastic, a one-man band by Chris Buchman author of the good Thieves Of Kisses in 1998; the change of name to Drastique and the addition of two other members, Mahavira (Ensoph) and someone named Fay for the female voice, do not benefit the cause of Pleasureligion, an overly ambitious and redundant product, baroque in the worst sense, theatrical yes but... Comical. Already the compound title (I prefer "Dallamericaruso" by Lucio Dalla) and the cover image are smoke in the eyes for the unsuspecting, completed by lyrics that would like to be deep but... but... embarrassment. All the more because often Dante, rather than Blake, Coleridge, or the pre-Raphaelite Rossetti (along with other artists cited in the credits as "inspirations") are brought into the mix without reason. The music is indeed a sort of electro-goth tainted by massive doses of big guitars, extremely harsh voices alternating with maidenly voices, and double bass that only add to the confusion. (For the younger ones, if they tell you this is gothic-metal, don't fall for it...)

The least unfortunate episode, coincidentally, is a cover of "Maria Magdalena", a hit from 1985 by a singer, guess what, a German named Sandra. Everything else is lace, frills, and dark lipstick on a water heater...