Mortification (band)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please discuss this issue on the talk page or replace this tag with a more specific message.
This article has been tagged since December 2005.
Mortification
Band logo
Band logo
Background information
Origin Flag of Australia Australia
Genre(s) Christian metal
Death metal
Thrash metal
Groove metal
Years active 1990–present
Label(s) Intense Records
Nuclear Blast
Rowe Productions
Website Official website
Members
Steve Rowe
Damien Percy
Mick Jelinic
Former members
Jayson Sherlock
Phil Gibson
Keith Bannister
Adam Zaffarese
Mike Forsberg
Cameron Hall
Michael Carlisle
Lincoln Bowen
Jeff Lewis

Mortification is a Christian metal band from Australia, founded in 1990 from the 1980s metal band LightForce by Steve Rowe, Cameron Hall and Jayson Sherlock. One of the first bands of its genre, Mortification serves as inspiration for many of today's Christian metal bands.

Contents

[edit] History

In the late-eighties, bassist Steve Rowe played in the Australian classic metal band LightForce, a group which saw moderate success in its homeland. Around 1990, the band broke up. Steve, still determined to play heavy music with a Christian message, soon joined with drummer Jayson Sherlock and guitarist Cameron Hall under the LightForce name to release the 1990 demo, "Break the Curse." With this release, the band changed musically towards thrash metal with a death metal influence. Feeling that their new musical direction merited a new name, the band retitled itself Mortification.

In 1991, they released their self-titled debut album on the American Christian label Intense Records. Michael Carlisle replaced guitarist Cameron Hall, and the direction of the music changed once again. A lot of the songs were taken from their demo "Break the Curse", but the band tuned their guitars down, and the feel to the songs were way more heavy and doomy than to begin with. Also, Steve proved to be an excellent death metal vocalist, presenting some awesome growls throughout the album.

In 1992, the band had signed a deal with none other than Nuclear Blast Records in Germany, who had the biggest death metal names on their roster. Mortification released their second album "Scrolls of the Megilloth" which had great success, and in the Christian metal scene is considered a classic. The line-up had outdone themselves, playing some fast death metal with a few doomy touches here and there. A video-compilation which featured 8 Mortification music-videos was also released.

The band conquered new ground with their 1993 release "Post Momentary Affliction." Most notably, the vocal style shifted, adding some thrash-like screams to the already-familiar metal growls. The band also experimented with the industrial style. Jayson Sherlock had his last concert with the band at the Blackstump Festival '93, and the concert was released both on CD and also VHS under the name "Live Planetarium". Jayson joined Paramæcium, and Phil Gibson replaced him as Mortification's drummer.

The band released a new album in 1994 called "Blood World." They leaned more towards modern groove/thrash rather than death metal, and Steve mainly used his shouts rather than growling. Phil and Michael left the band, and Steve stood by himself.

1994 also saw the birth of Steve's own record label, "Rowe Productions." Also, "Break the Curse" was remixed and re-released by Nuclear Blast Records with a bonus track called "Butchered Mutilation."

Together with numerous friends, Steve recorded the album Primitive Rhythm Machine which was released in 1995. The sound of the album is really nasty and messy with a tribal-percussion to it. Musically, Steve mixed all the styles Mortification had played in the past, death metal, thrash metal and groove metal.

Also, Mortification's Best of... 5 Years were released. A compilation album of older material. 2 songs from each previous release made a good introduction to new fans, and showed the bands innovation. This was the last album to be released by Mortification through Intense Records.

In 1996, Steve Rowe started his search for a new drummer and guitarist. The drum position was filled by long time roadie Keith Bannister, who had become a Christian during the first Mortification tour back in 1990. He learned how to play the drums while Mortification was on tour, and when they came back, Steve saw that he had been practicing, and was amazed at his progress, and instantly chose him to fill the spot as the drummer of the band. The guitar position was filled by guitarist Lincoln Bowen. Together, they recorded the album EnVision EvAngelene. This disc mixed elements of classic metal, thrash metal and added a punk feel to some of the songs. The first cut is an epic 18+ minute about Christ's crucifixion from the angels point of view.

Two live EP's were also released, "Noah Sat Down and Listened to the Mortification Live EP While Having a Coffee" and "Live without Fear." Unlike their first live album "Live Planetarium" from the Blackstump festival, this was recorded at a small club, with a raw sound.

A video compilation called "EnVidion" was released, containing numerous music-videos and interviews. Also released this year was a novel by Steve Rowe titled "Minstrel."

In the next year, Steve Rowe contracted a disease that would drag him down for the next year and a half: Acute Lymphatic Leukemia. Despite a seemingly failed bone marrow transplant, Steve survived the illness.

Soon after his recovery, Mortification recorded and released "Triumph of Mercy" in 1998, which was released by Rowe Productions in the US and Nuclear Blast Germany in Europe. Lyrically, the album focused on the experiences of Steve and the band during Steve's two-year trial. The style of the album was a mixture of groove and thrash.

1999 saw the release of "Hammer of God", also mix of thrash and groove. The death metal elements had vanished, but the religious message of the lyrics remained.

In 2000, Mortification released another live album, recorded at Blackstump Festival in 1999, called "10 Years: Live Not Dead," which mainly featured material from their newer albums plus a new song called "Dead Man Walking". Keith Bannister left the band, and a replacement was found in the very young drummer Adam Zaffarese.

The new line-up released the album "The Silver Chord Is Severed" in 2000 and the band went on its first world tour. The music continued to be thrash and groove. At the end of 2000 Lincoln Bowen left, and the band was split, which seemed like it was the end of Mortification.

A collection of Mortification songs was released in 2002 on the compilation-album "1990-2000: Power, Pain and Passion."

However, things changed when the guitarists Jeff Lewis and Mick Jelinic joined the band, and in 2002 they released "Relentless". The band went in a slightly more heavy direction with a good dose of thrash and classic metal. The band played live as a 4-piece only a couple of times, as Jeff Lewis left the band.

2004 saw the released of "Brain Cleaner", now with ex-Cybergrind member Michael Forsberg on the drums. This were the heaviest released from the band in 10 years, and fast thrash dominates the album with lots of groove and death metal influences.

In 2006, Mortification released a new album. It was originally titled "Impaling the Goblin," but after many complaints that in some cultures this term had a sexual connotation to it, they changed the name to "Erasing the Goblin." The album, with a cover which features a warrior throwing a sword into a goblin sitting on a rocking chair in a cave, is said to be a take on their older death/thrash sound around the time of their first 2-3 albums.

[edit] Band members

[edit] Current members

  • Steve Rowe (Vocals & Bass)
  • Mick Jelinic (Guitar) joined 2002
  • Damien Percy (Drums) joined 2005

[edit] Former members

[edit] Drums

  • Jayson Sherlock (1990 - 1993)
  • Phil Gibson (1994)
  • Keith Bannister (1996 - 1999)
  • Adam Zaffarese (2000 - 2003)
  • Mike Forsberg (2004 - 2005)

Bill Rice recorded "Primitive Rhythm Machine" as guest musician

[edit] Guitar

  • Cameron Hall (1990)
  • Michael Carlisle (1991 - 1994)
  • Lincoln Bowen (1996 - 2001)
  • Jeff Lewis (2002)

Jason Campbell, Dave Kellogg and George Ochoa recorded "Primitive Rhythm Machine" as guest musicians

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] Videos

  • 1991 - Metal Missionaries (Video)
  • 1993 - Grind Planets (Video)- 55 Minutes
  • 1994 - The History Of Mortification (Video)
  • 1994 - Live Planetarium (Video) - 60 Minutes
  • 1996 - EnVidion (Video) - 60 Minutes
  • 2002 - Conquer The World (DVD) - 95 Minutes
  • 2005 - Grind Planets Reissue (DVD) - 89 Minutes

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../m/o/r/Mortification_%28band%29.html"