Feature: Mortification Albums Ranked – Worst to First
Have you ever told somebody, “So and so is my best friend?” It’s probably a great friendship that leads to this sort of proclamation statement. Once it’s said out loud, it kind of becomes fact. Ever noticed that? I have declared to the world many years (decades) ago that Steve Rowe is my best friend. As the creative leader behind Mortification, Steve has become world renown. As a good buddy and best friend, I feel compelled to remind everyone that a list like this is a huge show of respect to a band that has created a vast selection of art. Having to rank any one of Mortification’s release in last place is a bit disheartening. Thus is the nature of any ranked list.
It is also one man’s opinion. With the history and legacy that Heaven’s Metal has established, it is most always an informed opinion—even if it just one man. Jason McLaren provides a thoughtful, educated, informed, and mostly edified opinion/list.
What do you think? This is a great place to utilize the comments section. Have disagreements? Of course you will. I doubt anyone will agree with all 14 ranking placements. Let your voice be heard. Without further ado, let us begin.
Mortification are a legendary name in Christian heavy metal, and for good reason. But like many famous metal acts, the albums that span their career make for a sonic landscape of many peaks and valleys. Though Mortification began as a death metal band with strong thrash roots (like many early death metal acts), Steve Rowe and company explored a whole gamut of styles as well, much to the chagrin of many fans who initially fell in love with the band by way of Scrolls of the Megilloth or their self-titled debut. To me, it’s proof of Rowe’s love of heavy metal music as a whole, and in spite of much protest, he’s refused to confine himself to one particular style. Love or hate what they’ve done over the years, there’s no denying their importance as a band, and Steve Rowe in particular’s tremendous impact on the metal scene as a whole. Here, I’ll be ranking their studio albums from worst to best (EP’s, live albums, compilations and demos are not included).
Realm of the Skeletaur
It’s a bit of a sad thing for me to put this one last. Mortification’s final album (at least as it stands now) was meant to be a return to their old death metal stylings once again, but ended up sounding like a band totally out of steam. It’s hard for me to critique the vocal work of Steve Rowe here after all he has been through with health struggles and surviving cancer; but, if I focus purely on the sound here, the low grunted vocals just don’t work. In fact, I find they are almost distractingly too much in the forefront on this mix. Musically, the songs just sound uninspired. I’d love to dig what they tried to do here (especially because they seem to be trying to go the death metal route here), but I just can’t. Compare a track like “Turn” or “J.G.S.H.” to “Slaughter Demon Headz” and see what I mean. Realm of the Skeletaur is 100% not the high the band should have gone out on.
The Evil Addiction Destroying Machine
Erasing the Goblin was a ferocious return to form album for Mortification. Too bad that it’s follow-up almost entirely ditched the cohesive, precision attack of the latter for a tired album of punkish thrash that fails to grab one’s attention almost entirely. I’m not sure how they stumbled so hard after their fantastic Erasing the Goblin album, but here we are. Definitely a pass from me.
Hammer of God
Some might be surprised to see this one so low on the list. Certainly, the music itself is well-played, and Lincoln Bowen’s guitar work makes him one of the best guitarists that ever passed through the band’s ranks through the years. But this list is subject to personal opinion, and I’ve never been a traditional metal fan for the most part. And that’s precisely what Hammer of God is. Loaded with galloping drums and soaring guitar leads, it’s hard to believe that this band put out a death metal monolith like Scrolls of the Megilloth once upon a time (though to be fair, that was with a different line-up outside of consistent band member Steve Rowe). It’s not that the music here is necessarily bad; far from it, in fact, despite the sometimes ham-fisted lyrical approach. It’s just simply not my thing. I can listen to a black metal band ride one drum beat and two riffs for twenty minutes no problem, but with this kind of metal, I just generally tend to tune out pretty quickly. Just me. That said, if you’re a trad metal fan and always thought Mortification were just a death metal act, you might want to check this one out.
The Silver Chord is Severed
And now for another surprise. The Silver Chord is Severed is the album that most find at the bottom of their lists when it comes to Mortification. Often derided as an album too caught up in the trends of its day when it was released in 2001 (groove metal, nu-metal, etc.), I think it has ended up becoming, a little unfairly, the whipping boy of the band’s discography. And let’s be honest: lots of bands let the commercially successful sounds of the mid to late-90’s rub off on them to some degree (In Flames’ Reroute to Remain, Fear Factory’s Digimortal, and even Obituary’s World Demise all come to mind here). The question is – did it work? Yes and no. The issue is not that the music on The Silver Chord is Severed is necessarily bad, it’s just that it’s not very memorable. When you compare this one to the rest of the band’s discography, it simply remains in the background as an album of its time.
Relentless
Relentless is a real mixed bag of a record, but much of the middle-period of Mortification can be, just by very nature of the band’s hybridized approach. The only time where the band was a four-piece, Relentless is very atypical of Mortification’s mid-period: a mix of groove, thrash and classic heavy metal, with sprinklings of death and doom thrown in to varying degrees. “Web of Fire” sounds like an homage to Slayer, “Sorrow” effectively channels some doom metal vibes, and “Apocalyptic Terror” could be the ultimate tease to those fans of the band who wish Mortification would just go back to death metal already (as far as their death metal style goes, it’s an absolute banger of a death/thrash assault). Unfortunately, the highlights are overshadowed by a fair amount of simply unexciting material that grooves along in a by-the-numbers manner.
Brain Cleaner
Erasing the Goblin is often viewed as Mortification’s return-to-form album in the eyes of many fans of the band who longed for the band to go back to their death metal style. But Brain Cleaner could actually vie for that position just as much. It’s obvious with this one that Mortification was cool with going back to the sounds that made them famous in the first place, despite Steve Rowe’s protests against pigeonholing the band’s sound in the song “Purest Intent.” While the whole album doesn’t go full-on death metal, tracks like “Livin’ Like a Zombie” and “Too Much Pain” are definitely a step in the right direction (with the latter sounding very much like a song from the Post Momentary Affliction days – “This Momentary Affliction”). Other tracks like “Boaconstrictor” and “Louder than the Devil” are pretty much Mortification’s death/thrash hybrid style by the numbers. Unfortunately, some tracks fall flat here – most notably, “E.D.” and “12 Men.” While Brain Cleaner is promising, and a pretty decent listen at times, there’s simply better in their back catalogue.
EnVision EvAngelene
This is the point where Mortification almost (there’s still a sprinkling of death growls here!) definitively abandoned their early death metal stylings completely. A blend of thrash and traditional heavy metal, EnVision EvAngelene sees Mortification at their most epic in scope. The title track alone is a monster, clocking in at over 18 minutes long, and somehow never overstays its welcome or succumbs to being a bloated mess. “Northern Storm” remains one of my favorite Mortification songs for its ultra-groovy thrash approach, and its hard to fault songs like “Buried Into Obscurity” and the Motorhead-esque “Noah Was a Knower.” Normally, this kind of album isn’t my style, but there’s just something about it that makes me return to it on occasion. A solid listen.
Triumph of Mercy
Triumph of Mercy is one of the most underrated records in the band’s catalog. I always see this one being passed over like it was some kind of embarrassing footnote, and after listening to it, I can’t figure out as to why. It’s not a fantastic record, but it’s definitely not their worst. It’s got far more death metal on it than anything else in their mid-period (until Brain Cleaner came along), so for death metal fans like me, it works. The fact that Rowe could even muster the death growls on this record that he did after his horrific but triumphant battle with cancer is astounding (see the nasty opener “At War with War” for a great example of this). Not all of it works, of course; Lincoln Bowen’s excellent guitar-work notwithstanding, some of the riffs on here almost have a pop-punk feel at times (see the beginning of “Welcome to the Palodrome”), or simply segue into hard rock territory (“Visited by an Angel”) – a jarring shift from the growling death metal of tracks like “Triumph of Mercy” and “Drain Dweller.” But that’s the problem you often get with Mortification – the albums really are such a hybrid of styles that it’s almost inevitable that
some tracks will fall flat, depending on the listener’s predilections.
Erasing the Goblin
Here’s where we get to the really solid stuff. After a decade or so of what most Mortification fans seem to view as a rather lacklustre period for the band, out comes Erasing the Goblin. Though Brain Cleaner was definitely heavier than anything they’d done in some time and showcased a shift towards their old sound, it was Erasing the Goblin that went full throttle and kicked the door in. Tracks like the brutal “Forged in Stone,” ripping “Razorback” and my personal favorite, “Way Truth Life” all hit with the subtlety of a missile strike, powered by guitarist Mick Jelinic’s violent, thrashy guitar work. Rowe’s vocals are in fine form here, and even if they don’t hit the guttural heights of those heard on Scrolls of the Megilloth, it’s great to hear Steve growling again with such fervor. Though the album peters out towards the end with the slow trudge of “Humanitarian” and the punkish “Short Circuit” (which would have sounded better on an album like Primitive Rhythm Machine), Erasing the Goblin is to Mortification as Surgical Steel is to Carcass: an excellent return to form.
Primitive Rhythm Machine
Essentially a Steve Rowe solo record featuring various session musicians, Primitive Rhythm Machine often gets misconstrued as a kind of Christian Sepultura rip-off album, and it’s really too bad that it gets dismissed as such. Obviously, the title track does incorporate the tribal drumming styles heard on Sepultura’s Chaos A.D. and more notably Roots, but it’s just the one track (plus, for what it’s worth, Primitive Rhythm Machine came out in 1995, Sepultura’s Roots in 1996). The rest of the album is a raw and stripped-down affair that blends classic and crossover thrash with groove and death metal. Sure, Sepultura’s death/thrash sound from their early days is obviously an influence to some degree, but I would argue that that influence has always been there since the beginning on this band. Despite not having a solidified line-up, the album holds together surprisingly well, even if its ramshackle tone makes it feel like it could all fall apart at any minute. “Mephibosheth” has a crushing chorus, and tracks like “Providence” and “Confused Belief” hit hard.
Mortification
If it weren’t for this album, I reckon many of us wouldn’t be here. This was ground zero for Christian death metal. Though bands like Vengeance Rising and Sacrament had pushed thrash metal to its utter limits with albums like Human Sacrifice and Testimony of Apocalypse, it was Mortification’s classic self-titled debut that raised the bar on just about everything heavy. Like much of early death metal, Mortification’s sound here is firmly rooted in thrash. However, Rowe and company here took everything to new extremes, with Rowe’s guttural roar leading the charge. At the time, no other band in the Christian metal scene had gone this far, and although the somewhat muted production kills its impact somewhat, it still remains a fantastic piece of death metal history, especially for the Christian scene. For my money, it doesn’t get much better than “Satan’s Doom.”
Blood World
Controversy time. Blood World is a personal favorite of mine. I know this record is disliked by many, and though I’ve heard that it’s Mortification’s best-selling album, I sometimes wonder if that was because of the high hopes fans had for it after Post Momentary Affliction, expecting another death metal record and instead finding it to be something altogether different. Obituary’s The End Complete was their best selling record too, but quite criticized after by many in retrospect; so too with Blood World. However, unlike the case with Obituary (with The End Complete being viewed by some as a rehash of its predecessor, Cause of Death), Mortification weren’t accused of simply releasing another Scrolls of the Megilloth or Post Momentary Affliction, but of switching their style completely.
Blood World sounds light years away from the brutal noise of previous efforts, incorporating thrash and groove elements far more than the band had hitherto done before. But it also sees Mortification embrace a doomy death metal sound with tracks like “Symbiosis” and “Dark Allusions,” as well as the heavy groove of “Monks of the High Lord.” Yes, Rowe makes more use of his controversial shouted vocals on this album (and I’m with most fans on this in that I’m not a huge fan of this approach which came to dominate later albums), but there’s far more death metal growls on here than I expected when I first listened to it.
Phil Gibson’s drum work is particularly of note on this record, reminding me more than once of the punchy style that I usually associate with Paul Mazurkiewicz of Cannibal Corpse. Blood World might have been too abrupt of a change when it came out back in 1994, but in hindsight, I think it’s one of their most unique and interesting records. The fact that it goes in my CD player in my car more often than most other albums of theirs is a testament to how much it’s grown on me over time.
Post-Momentary Affliction
The last of the band’s classic trio of death metal releases, Post Momentary Affliction is also their most ambitious. Rather than simply try to replicate the brutality of Scrolls of the Megilloth, Mortification chose to expand their sound with new elements, including industrial, heavy and even black metal influences. That’s right, I said black metal. This shouldn’t come as a shocker considering drummer Jayson Sherlock’s side-project in Horde, and, if I remember correctly, Steve Rowe’s mention of Sodom as an early influence on his music (Sodom’s early material such as In the Sign of Evil and Obsessed by Cruelty would prove hugely influential on the black metal scene of the 90’s). Much akin to some black metal, the riffs on Post Momentary Affliction cascade and flow over each other in an ominous-sounding fashion, with the drums driving it all on with steadfast purpose (see “From the Valley of Shadows” and “Overseer” particularly).
However, songs like “Distarnish Priest” and “Grind Planetarium” slow it all down, giving the album a real dynamic edge. “This Momentary Affliction” goes for an industrial-esque approach almost more in line with Fear Factory, and “Vital Fluids” sounds just downright nasty. The issue with Post Momentary Affliction is that it is also home to a ton of wasted space in the form of intros/outros, interludes, and a totally out of place-sounding bass solo (“Flight of Victory”), all amounting to six of the fourteen total tracks. The excess here takes away from the impact of what is otherwise an incredibly varied and engaging bit of death metal history. I liken this one to a beautiful steak, but one with some fat that desperately needs to be trimmed off. Still, once it is, what a steak.
Scrolls of the Megilloth
I’m sure it’s no surprise to see this one at the top. But let’s be honest here – it may have been their self-titled that spawned a legion of Christian death metal acts, it may be that Post Momentary Affliction is a flawed masterpiece of progressive death metal, but it was Scrolls of the Megilloth that put Christian death metal on the map, both in the Christian and secular metal scenes. And for good reason. Scrolls of the Megilloth is a monolithic death metal onslaught, crushing, pulverizing and ridiculously heavy in all the right ways. It copies no one and yet fits right in with its secular contemporaries, matching bands like Deicide for intensity and Suffocation for brutality.
Steve Rowe’s vocals here are some of the finest in death metal I’ve ever heard in my life; the booming, lion-like roars almost make the ground beneath your feet shake. The merciless pounding of the drums and the incessantly grinding guitar work all serve to add to the impact here. In my mind, if I were to be a bit of stickler, I’d say it’s the band’s most purely death metal record, with the thrash elements almost completely absent and with no sign of the band’s later experimental, hybridizing approach to different metal styles. It’s brutal without falling into the specifically “brutal death metal” style later heard in the music of bands like Crimson Thorn and Metanoia, almost providing a snapshot of what old school, classic death metal could sound like if taken to its extreme limits. To my mind, despite the fact that it almost stands alone stylistically-speaking in the band’s catalogue, it’s still their definitive statement.
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