• Re-release of the album from 2001
 • Expanded with four additional studio tracks
 • Including bonus CD with the material taken
 from the live album “10 Years Live Not Dead”
 • 2CD digipak edition, limited to 2000 numbered copies worldwide
 • Digitally remastered using 24-bit process on golden disc

 

 

MORTIFICATION - "The Silver Cord Is Severed / 10 Years Live Not Dead"

 

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 Cord is Severed" in 2001 and the band went on its first world tour. The music continued to be thrash and groove.

Mortification’s beginnings reach back to 1990, after a band called Lightforce split-up, leaving bassist Steve Rowe without a line-up to help him continue his metal crusade. Together with drummer Jayson Sherlock and guitarist Cameron Hall, still bearing the name of Lightforce, they recorded a demo entitled “Break the Curse”, where Rowe took over the vocal department. The result was unlike anything that Lightforce recorded in the past – the music was crushingly heavy, leaning towards thrash metal with a death metal touch to it. Feeling that such a drastic style change meant an entirely new direction for the band, Rowe decided to rename it to Mortification. In 1991 Mortification released their self-titled debut, which immediately brought the attention of metal fans, not only those associated with Christian music. The guitar work was handled by new member Michael Carlisle, as Cameron Hall left the group. This way the group’s sound progressed to an even heavier region. Steve Rowe closed the deal with his impressive growls, making “Mortification” a top-notch death metal offering. This, however, was quite a controversial move on the Christian metal market – while a lot of people supported Mortification, not the entire Christian community appreciated the band’s extreme approach. Nevertheless, the group received a very positive feedback and marked their presence on the scene. 1992 brought a huge breakthrough for Mortification, as they managed to sign a deal with one of the most respected metal labels in Europe – Nuclear Blast. Soon the band’s second album sees the light of day – “Scrolls of the Megilloth” proved to be a great success, and to this day is considered a classic in the Christian metal scene. In the following year Mortification put out yet another full-length release, entitled “Post Momentary Affliction”. Unfortunately, after releasing the third album, Jayson Sherlock left the band, soon to be replaced by Phil Gibson. The new line-up delivered Mortification’s fourth album, entitled “Blood World” and released in 1994. The new album proved that the band is not afraid to experiment with their style, but always remains true to their mission. Mortification’s position on the metal scene (not only the Christian one) grew stronger – the group played more concerts and was now widely recognized even on the secular metal scene. The same year Steve Rowe finally managed to fulfill another one of his dreams and started his own record label – Rowe Productions. Glory did not last for long, however. Both Phil Gibson and Michael Carlisle decided to leave the band, which made Rowe the only remaining member of Mortification. Nevertheless, he didn’t give up and with the help of numerous friends put out another album in 1995, entitled “Primitive Rhythm Machine”. In 1996, after the release of Mortification’s first compilation (“Best of… 5 Years”), Rowe begun searching for new members to continue his quest for Jesus. Soon the ranks were filled by drummer Keith Bannister and guitarist Lincoln Bowen. The band returned to the scene with a brand new album called “EnVision EvAngelene”. It seemed that everything was finally going well for the band… Unfortunately, by the end of 1996 disaster stroke – in September Rowe was diagnosed that he has leukemia. The fight with cancer seemed impossible to win, but against all the odds Rowe defeated the disease, what some considered a miraculous cure. After Rowe got out of the hospital he focused all his attention on the new Mortification album, which would sum up all his experiences with defeating cancer. This way in 1998 “Triumph of Mercy” hit the stores, proving to be the group’s most personal release. In 1999 another album emerged, bearing the title “Hammer of God”. By this time all the death metal elements were eliminated, leaving Mortification’s music as a strong mixture of thrash and groove, with some classic and power metal adjustments. The band was still experimenting with new sounds and clearing new paths for their music. The following yeas brought another compilation “10 Years: Live Not Dead" (2000) and the album “The Silver Chord is Severed”. After releasing another ‘best of’ compilation (“1990-2000: Power, Pain and Passion”) Mortification’s founder refreshed the band’s line-up, adding two guitarists – Mick Jelinic and Jeff Lewis. Together they recorded “Relentless” and released it in 2002 through Rowe’s label. The music went towards a more heavy metal direction, nonetheless still capturing Mortification’s spirit. The following years brought two more full-length albums by Mortification: “Brain Cleaner” (2004) with ex-Cybergrind member Michael Forsberg on drums, and “Erasing the Goblin” (2006), both returning to Mortification’s roots with a huge dose of fast thrash metal, now again backed with death metal elements. The two albums proved to be their heaviest releases in 10 years, much to their fans’ satisfaction. Their most recent offering is a live album entitled “Live Humanitarian”, released in 2007 through Soundmass Records.