Mortification is an Australian Christian death metal band which was formed in 1987 as a heavy metal group, Lightforce, by mainstay Steve Rowe on bass guitar and vocals. By 1990, in the Melbourne suburb of Moorabbin, they were renamed as Mortification with the line-up of Rowe, Michael Carlisle on guitar and Jayson Sherlock on drums. Mortification has released fourteen studio albums, three compilation albums, three extended plays, six live discs, one demo album, one box set, and several videos on major record labels such as Nuclear Blast. As one of the earliest internationally successful Christian death metal bands from Australia, they served as an inspiration for later similar groups.
Tourniquet was an American Christian metal band that formed in Los Angeles in 1990. It was founded by Ted Kirkpatrick, Guy Ritter, and Gary Lenaire. Tourniquet primarily played a mixture of thrash and progressive metal and was influenced by additional, non-rock forms of music such as classical and world music. The band earned six GMA Dove Award nominations and won multiple recognitions from the readers of HM Magazine, including "Favorite Band of the 1990s" and "Favorite Album of the 1990s" for Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance (1992). They released ten studio albums, two live albums, four compilation albums, one EP, and several video releases. The last Tourniquet lineup consisted of Ted Kirkpatrick (drums) and Aaron Guerra. The band disbanded after Kirkpatrick's death in 2022.
Stop the Bleeding is the debut studio album by the American Christian metal band Tourniquet. It was originally released on Intense Records in 1990. A remastered version was released independently on Pathogenic Records in 2001, which was later re-released in 2011. Retroactive Records released a Collector's Edition remaster on June 26, 2020. The remasters include updated artwork, expanded album booklets, and bonus tracks.
Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance is the third studio album by the American Christian metal band Tourniquet. It was originally released on Intense Records in 1992 to the Christian market and later released on Metal Blade Records in 1993 to the secular market. It is the last Tourniquet album to feature vocalist Guy Ritter, who left the band after the recording of the album. It was independently re-released on Pathogenic Records in 2001 with digital remastering, two bonus live tracks from the 2000 Dutch Flevo Festival featuring then-lead vocalist Luke Easter, and new cover art. Retroactive Records released a Collector's Edition remaster on June 26, 2020 with the original cover art, an expanded album booklet, and four different bonus tracks. Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance was voted as the "Favorite Album of the 1990s" by readers of HM Magazine. In 2010, HM Magazine ranked it #23 on the Top 100 Christian metal albums of all-time list.
Intense Live Series, Vol. 2 is the first live album by the American Christian metal band Tourniquet. It was released on Intense Records in February 1993. It contains live recordings of material from the band's previous three studio albums, Stop the Bleeding (1990), Psycho Surgery (1991), and Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance (1992), as well as covers of "The Tempter" from Trouble's Psalm 9 album and "The Messiah" from Bloodgood's Detonation album. Les Carlsen, Bloodgood's vocalist, was a special guest vocalist since Tourniquet vocalist Guy Ritter departed from the band prior to the recording of this album. Victor Macias, Gary Lenaire, and Erik Mendez also perform vocals. Session notes by Terry Taylor, the album's executive producer, and a biography of Tourniquet are included in the booklet. Intense Live Series, Vol. 2 was later included as part of the Intense Live Series compilation, which also contained Vol. 1 by Deliverance and Vol. 4 by Die Happy, and released on KMG Records in 1998.
Vanishing Lessons is the fourth studio album by the American Christian metal band Tourniquet. It was originally released on Intense Records in 1994. It was the first Tourniquet album to feature then-lead vocalist Luke Easter, who joined the band in 1993. The songs "Bearing Gruesome Cargo," "Acid Head" and "K517" were included on the Tourniquet/Mortification Collector's Edition CD Single in 1994; the disc also featured tracks with Ted Kirkpatrick talking about Tourniquet and included material from the Australian Christian metal band Mortification's Live Planetarium and Blood World releases. A different version of "My Promise" was included on Tourniquet's extended play Carry the Wounded, and a music video for "Bearing Gruesome Cargo" was included on the band's VHS tape Pushin' Broom in 1995. This album was later bundled with 1992's Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance and released on KMG Records in 2000. Vanishing Lessons was independently re-released on Pathogenic Records with digital remastering, bonus tracks, and new artwork in 2004.
Horde is the black metal solo project of Australian musician Jayson Sherlock, formerly of Mortification and Paramaecium. In 1994, the only studio album, Hellig Usvart, was released on Nuclear Blast Records. With a session line-up, Horde played live in 2006 in Norway and in 2010 in Finland and Germany. Hellig Usvart proved to be a seminal release for the unblack metal movement, and the album was highly controversial in the secular black metal scene at the time it was released.
Bloodgood was an American Christian metal band that formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1983. By 1988, Bloodgood represented one of the four largest Christian metal bands alongside Barren Cross, Leviticus, and Whitecross.
Refuse/Resist is Sepultura's fourth single, released in 1993. The title song, also included as a single off the album Chaos A.D., is one of the band's best-known songs and remains a concert staple to this day. A music video was filmed for the single which features the band playing live at a festival intercut with footage of rioting and general unrest. This video can be found on the VHS Third World Chaos, which was later released on DVD as part of the Chaos DVD. The intro to the song is the heartbeat of Max Cavalera's then-unborn first son Zyon. This song is also notable for having a 20-second growl at the end.
Break the Curse is a demo album by the Australian Christian death metal band Mortification. It was released in 1994 as Break the Curse 1990. The album focuses on Mortification's thrash metal style rather than their later death metal. Several of the album's songs were re-recorded for other Mortification albums. It was re-released on Rowe Productions in 2001 with updated artwork, an updated album booklet, and remastered audio. The album was re-released on Roxx Records as Break the Curse 1990–2010: 20th Anniversary Gold Edition in 2010 as a two-disc set with a CD containing bonus tracks and a DVD containing footage from Mortification's first crossover concert on 15 June 1990 at Harvest Centre in Melbourne, Australia, and later on vinyl as Break the Curse 1990: 25th Anniversary in July 2015. In 2022, the album was re-released as Break the Curse on Soundmass with remastered audio and a second disc containing the audio from the 2010 DVD.
Mortification is the debut studio album by Australian Christian death metal band Mortification. It was released on 12 October 1991. This album leans more towards death metal than the band's demo album Break the Curse, but retains thrash metal elements. Five songs from the demo album were re-recorded for Mortification. In 2002, The Billboard Guide to Contemporary Christian Music described the album's sound as "punk-meets-metal grind-core". A bundle containing Mortification and Scrolls of the Megilloth was released on KMG Records in 1998 and on Rowe Productions in 2015, with the latter being exclusively on cassette. Soundmass Records re-released the album with five bonus tracks in 2020, and again in 2022 with new remastering and nine bonus tracks recorded at Q.U.T. Campus Club in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia on 27 September 1991.
Scrolls of the Megilloth is the second studio album by Australian Christian death metal band Mortification. It was released on 28 August 1992. The band's most famous release, this album is full-on death metal, with the thrash metal roots barely showing, and possibly their most extreme album to date. According to AllMusic, the album "garnered the band some attention from the heavy metal underground" and contains "some of the most frightening vocals ever recorded." In 2010, HM Magazine ranked Scrolls of the Megilloth number 17 on the Top 100 Christian Metal Albums of All Time list with Van Pelt stating that "Though the band has been living it down ever since, this album raised the standard of Christian grindcore to almost unattainable levels."
Post Momentary Affliction is the third studio album by Australian Christian death metal band Mortification, released in 1993. The album's sound has Mortification returning to their thrash metal roots, but with death metal elements still showing. It contains an alternate recording of the track "Impulsation" from the band's Break the Curse demo album. Post Momentary Affliction was bundled with Mortification's 1992 album Scrolls of the Megilloth on Nuclear Blast and included "Butchered Mutilation" as a bonus track, releasing on 18 November 1996. In 2008, a reissue was released by Metal Mind Productions, which also included "Butchered Mutilation" and three live tracks. Soundmass released reissues in 2020 and 2022, with the former having three live tracks and the latter having new remastering and two discs, with the second CD containing fifteen live tracks1; both reissues include "Butchered Mutilation". In 2010, HM Magazine ranked Post Momentary Affliction No. 70 on the Top 100 Christian metal albums of all-time list.
Blood World is the fourth studio album by Australian Christian death metal band Mortification, released in 1994. The songs "Your Life", "J.G.S.H." and "Love Song" were included on the Tourniquet/Mortification Collector's Edition CD Single in 1994; the disc also contained a segment discussing Mortification's history, from the video release of Live Planetarium, and material from American Christian metal band Tourniquet's album Vanishing Lessons. Blood World was a commercial hit and the band's most successful album.
EnVision EvAngelene is the sixth studio album by the Australian Christian death metal band Mortification, released on 23 April 1996. Musically, this particular album is known for having more of a traditional heavy metal and thrash metal sound than previous Mortification offerings, which focused mainly on death metal.
Stephen Andrew Rowe is an Australian musician who is the founder, bass guitarist, and vocalist of the Australian Christian death metal band Mortification, which is considered to be a pioneer in the genre. Prior to forming Mortification he was in a traditional heavy metal styled Christian band known as LightForce. He was diagnosed with leukemia in 1997, but made a full recovery. He is currently the owner and head of the Rowe Productions record label. In 2015, Rowe announced his retirement from Christian music. However, his career has continued, while Mortification has been inactive the members' side project, Wonrowe Vision, have remained active.
Hammer of God is the eighth studio album by the Australian Christian death metal band Mortification, released on 27 July 1999.
Jayson Andrew Sherlock is a Christian metal musician from Australia. He began his career in the Australian death metal band Mortification, which was considered to be a major pioneer in the genre. Sherlock was the founder of the one-man project unblack metal band Horde, in which he played every instrument. He has also been in other bands such as Paramaecium, inExordium, Altera Enigma, and Soundscape. During 2012, he was the drummer for Deliverance. He is currently the drummer for the death metal band Revulsed.
The discography of The Mr. T Experience, a Berkeley, California-based punk rock band formed in 1985, consists of ten studio albums, five EPs, and nine singles.
