In the late-eighties, bassist Steve Rowe played in the Australian classic metal band Lightforce, with a rather great succes in their homeland. Around 1990, the band broke up, but Steve still wanted to play heavy music with a christian message, and he was joined by drummer Jayson Sherlock and guitarist Cameron Hall.
They releaed a demo in 1990 entitled "Break the Curse" under the Lightforce name, where Steve handled the vocals. With this release, the band changed musically towards thrash metal with a death metal touch to it. Steve felt the new direction of the band also requirred a new name, and so the band changed their name to Mortification.
"Break the Curse" was remixed and re-released in 1994 by Nuclear Blast Records with a bonus track called "Butchered Mutilation".
In 1991, they released their self-titled debut album, "Mortification", on the American christian label Intense Records. Michael Carlisle handling the guitar works as Cameron Hall had left the band, 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 rooster. Mortificaiton released their second album "Scrolls of the Megilloth" which had great success, a 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 featuered 8 Mortification music-videoes were also released.
The band qoncured new ground with their 1993 release "Post Momentary Afflictions". Most notiable were Steve's "new" vocals. Mixed together with the growls, he had some screams which actually worked very well. The band also experimented with industrial, which they haven't done much since. Jayson Sherlock had his last concert with the band at the Blackstump Festival '93, and the concert was releaed both on cd and also VHS under the name "Live Planetarium".
Jayson joined Paramæcium, and the new drummer were Phil Gibson.
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. A brawe step to change so drastically, but nonetheless, the album had a great success in the US. Sadly, both Phil and Michael left the band, and Steve stood by himslef.
1994 also saw the birth of Steves own recordlable, "Rowe Productions". Together with numerous friends, Steve recorded the album "Primitve 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. The guitar position was filled by guitarist Lincoln Bowen.
Together, they recorded the album "EnVision EvAngeline". 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 and nasty sound... the sound of a true Mortification concert.
A video-compilation from the band called "EnVidion" were released, containing numerous music-videos and interviews.
Also released this year was a novel by Steve Rowe titled "Minstrel." A good read and a collectors item now.
The next year would see Mortification going through some unbelievable tradgedies. Steve Rowe, contracted a disease that would drag him down for the next year and a half. Accute Lymphatic Leuikimia.
Steve almost died several times, but through MUCH prayer and a strong will to live to see his vision for his family, band, and label fulfilled Steve managed to make it through. This was despite doctors who had given him only hours to live and a seemingly failed bone marrow transplant. Soon after his miraculous 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. This disc centered around what Steve and the band had gone through over the two years previous. The style of the album was a mixture of groove and thrash, and is a testimony of Steve's healing through God.
1999 saw the release of "Hammer of God", and like "Triumph of Mercy", it was a mix of thrash and groove. The death metal elements were completely gone now, but the message of the band were the same. God-fearing lyrics.
In 2000, Mortification released another live album called "10 Years: Live Not Dead", which mainly feautered material from their newer albums + a new song called "Dead Man Walking". It was recorded at the Blackstump Festival 1999 and had a great sound to it.
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 Mortificatin songs were 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 doss 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.
2005 will be a very exciting year for Mortification and their fans, so stay tuned!!! Lars Andersen
Steve Row (Bass, Vocals)
Mick Jelinic (Guitar)
Dave Kilgallon (Drums)
