MORTUARY DRAPE
Bio:
It was 1986 when Mortuary Drape was founded by the aim of the central core of three people, one of which is still in the band (Wildness Perversion).
Music and trends that inspired the founders are from the 'black metal' style with an esoteric-necromantic current both for the lyrics and for the stage design impact: they decided to baptize their style as 'black-occult metal'.
In 1987 they publish 'Necromancy', the first demo tape that got a great response in the most intransigent underground scene, a demo that in the years to come became an authentic cult for the lovers of this genre.
During the period from 1988 to the first half of 1991 the line-up stabilized in three elements and there was the publishing of the second demo called 'Doom return'.
In 1991 they had the first contacts with labels (also foreigners) for a possible record deal; in fact after a few time the band made its debut with the first CD called 'Into the drape' published by the Greek record label Decapitated rec. immediately followed by the presence on the compilation 'Wine of Satan' for the Spellbound (another Greek label) as the only Italian band on the LP.
Moreover we must remember that in this period there was a sudden change in the band where the founder Wildness Perversion remained the only one with the double role of voice-drums. In 1994 was released the second record called 'All the witches dance' for the Unisound rec. In 1995 a new compilation collected all bands of Unisound rec. and in the same year there was the reprinting of the compilation 'Wine of Satan' on CD by the German Soundphaze under Spellbound license.
On June 1996 'Mourn path' mini CD marked a new goal for the band that after this success played in many metal festivals and in other important events in foreign countries and in Italy: It happened in this period that they canned embark on an European tour of 15 dates to promote the repertory of the band.
On October 1996, exactly ten years after the Mortuary Drape foundation, with the publishing of the new album 'Secret Sudaria' (eleven pieces) the band made a partial line-up change with the return of all the founders.
The following years, from 1997 and so on, were very troubled because of all the line-up changes with many musicians involved in the band with the two founders Wildness Perversion and Without Name.
Finally in 1999 the band found a stability and thus the members had the chance to create drafts of new songs that became the soul of the new album called 'Tolling 13 knell' released for the label Avantgarde music.
The album, containing 10 brand new songs, was released at the end of 2000 and followed a few months later by the double LP version with 4 bonus tracks published by Iron Pegasus under Avantgarde license.
After the release of the album and a few live shows in support of it (as for example the Darkness festival in Italy with Carpathian Forest and the italian gig of No Mercy tour 2001) began a new strong line-up revolution inside the band: in fact all the members except Wildness Perversion and Left-Hand Preacher (switched as guitar player) quitted the band during 2001.
Fortunately after a short period a new line-up was ready: Wildness Perversion- lead vocals; Left-Hand Preacher- guitars/vocals; and the three new members: Seeker of the Unknown- guitars/vocals; Arcane of Veiled Light- bass guitar/vocals; War Machine Helgast- drums/vocals.
In June 2003 Left-Hand Preacher left the Band for personal reasons ( Our Thanks to Him for his collaboration ) and in August 2003 he was replaced by the guitarist Cruel Abbot.
During the last 6 months of 2003 the band presented the new axeman in three shows (in one show they substitute the only Italian gig of Shining) and kept on working hard to complete and re-arrange the songs for the new forthcoming (at the end of 2004) album.
At the end of 2003 the label named WILD PROD. reprinted the two cult demotapes "Necromancy 1987" and "Doom Return 1989" on cd support, packing, all in an original box with renewed graphics.
In June 2004 the Drape started the recording session of the new album called Buried in Time at Alpha Omega Studios (Blevio, Como Italy) with the collaboration of Alex Azzali (Ancient, Cataract ). These session ended in september 2004. The band was really satisfied of the great work done by Cruel Abbot too for the realization of this Opus. November 20th 2004: Buried in Time ( Avantgarde Music prod. ) came out; the new CD included 11 songs in pure Mortuary Drape style.
In the meantime the band was ready to introduce the new CD, promoting new live shows in Italy and abroad, gathering good assessment from the large people present; magazines and web zines reviews are excellent, achieving top level both in Europe and United States. Late January, 2005: the vinyl version of Buried in Time was released by Wild Production; printed with a complete new layout in 666 copies, the first 166 only in red vinyl with double cardboard cover. Summer 2006: line-up changes; the drummer Helgast leaved the band and new auditions were immediately announced to replace him.
During 2007 the band played in a few European festivals included the Anti-Christ Crusade tour, 13 days on the road across the Europe; during the show Matt and Simone were session musicians on drums and rhythm guitar respectively. The 2008 watched the band involved in other shows in Europe and in the Crucifixion Tour in Finland; on this occasion the band was supported by the old drummer I.O.R.R. with the addiction of the new guitar player Abysmal Wizard.
During june 2009, due to a sequence of adverse events, Wildness Perversion remained the only member of the band but, despite this problem, he started to compose and arrange new songs for the next album after "Buried in time".
From 2009 to 2012 W.P., after negotiations with several international labels and the italian Iron Tyrant Records, choosed to sign with them to reprint some historical albums and add some unpublished songs and live stuffs. The costant increase of requests for old records led to 20 different productions, both CD and Vinyl/LP, in different types of packages like wood cases or special boxes...
At the same time of these releases new musicians brought back to life the band to start again with the live activity. So Mortuary Drape took part in several european festivals and in a mini-tour of 4 gigs in Brazil with the swedish band Watain. In may 2012 the band was requested as special guest in Maryland Deathfest as well(U.S.A.).
During july 2012 there was another line-up change. Alongside D.C., S.C. and S.R. (all part of the band since 2010) came up M.B. as new drummer.
Within the last months of 2012 the band started the recording session for the new album in pure Mortuary Drape's style. This return to the roots is warranted by the great engagement of the new line-up to recreate the typical Drape's sound. For this occasion Wildness Perversion dealt with both voice and drum parts.
In january 2013 the english label Peaceville got in touch with the band to reprint the last two albums "Tolling 13 Knell" and "Buried in time", previously released by Avantgarde Records. These new releases are expected in 2013 within the first half-year, completely remastered and enriched by bonus tracks, unpublished photos and new artworks edited by Wildness Perversion himself.
In September 2013 the band completed the last recording session and the mix for the new album. Despite the mastering was completed the same year, gigs and festivals totally absorbed the band and at that moment the proper time to find the right label wasn't enough.
In april 2014 the band flew to South America to play in Brasil, Chile, Peru and Ecuador. Back to Italy and after some proposal from different labels, the band finally found again in Iron Tyrant the right label to release "Spiritual independence", a fresh return to the roots and to the typical Drape's atmosphere.
In 2014 it started the album's promotion with a plenty of gigs. In 2015 the band could reach big festivals as "Inferno fest" in Oslo, Live Evil in London and after that played also a USA tour with Mgła and Sangus including 2 gigs in New York at the Martyrdoom festival. The tour continued in Detroit, Boston, Milwaukee, Columbus, Chicago and Baltimore for the 2 second time. The tour was a success.
After the US tour it was released a split with Necromass (cd/lp) under the german label Funeral Industries. The Mortuary Drape's side is called "Dance of Spirits". It includes 2 new songs and 2 live songs from Gama Metal festival which took place in 2014.
For the release date, 21st november 2015, took place the promotional gig with Necromass. After that the band closed the year 2015 with gigs in Milan at the "Necromancy FEstival" and on 26th december at the "metal x-mas fest" in Munich.
2016 is the 30th years of activity for Mortuary Drape. We are working on new concerts and new releases.
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