Nonchristian reviews Mortification album

Here's a video from my buddy Chris Peeters(from his YouTube channel *Music of Destruction*) review of Mortifications *Triumph of mercy*.
He isn't a Christian, but....he does give the album a open minded, fair review.
He's a close friend of mine for many years now, from the same town.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4lPy2cU0tWo

Good review. Except for his blunder that Steve died.

TZ75 wrote:Good review. Except for his blunder that Steve died.

LoL.
Yeah, a person in the comments section(the same person who sent him the cd actually) pointed that out to him in the comments section. Chris saw it and responded and was a little embarrassed by his blunder. Hehehe!
It's odd because I thought I'd mentioned Mort to him some years back myself and about Steve and his bout with and beating of cancer(maybe I didn't, and am misremembering. Or I did but it was so long ago that Chris forgot as well)...oh well, he's aware now.

Personally I wish he'd reviewed Scrolls or post momentary. I didn't particularly love *triumph* myself that much(it was *ok*)...but loved the first 3 albums(actually their first 5, including blood and primitive)...but especially scrolls and post. Not that triumph isn't a good album. Just that I prefer their purer death metal stuff...and the thrash/death of their first album(though they were...along with Crimson Thorn my fave Christian metal band back when I was a born againer and I had all their albums up to I think hammer of god...or triumph...which came first? and also had Lightforce- mystical thieves
I don't remember. And I had the long sleeve of their *the second death* shirt. I idolized Steve, like alot of evangelical metalheads did and still rightfully do)
To this day I still think Steves is one of the greatest metal bassists of all time(the bass instrumental on post momentary is phenomenal).

At least two songs from Triumph of Mercy were about his near death experience and (survival) of cancer.

Honestly. . . I don't even think most Christians/Mort fans thought that was a good album.

It wasn't neccesarily crap either though, and its understandable as to why it wasn't AS good.
Steve was still getting over his battle with cancer is why. And given that fact...it was still a valiant effort and fairly good given his condition at the time.

I kinda have the same sentiments about Deaths *the sound of perseverance* last album, for the exact same reasons.
Except unfortunately unlike Steve , Chuck didn't win his battle with cancer.

It was a fair review, which is the way it should be.  A music reviewer should judge the merits based on how good it is, not base how good/bad it is on the Christian content (unless the reviewer is writing specifically for a Christian-centric market).  Yes, they mention that it is Christian lyrically just like they should mention any lyrical content, they just shouldn't grade it on that.

In general, I've noticed over the years that the average metal fan doesn't care about how "Christian" an album is as long as it is good.  I also suspect that upper-level music exec's don't care as long as they make money.  It's the mid-level people in the music industry (DJ's, promoters, etc.), who propagate the negative stigma about Christian metal.  I'm not in the industry and I could be wrong, but I've noticed this.

About Triumph of Mercy itself, I agree with pretty much everything Contrarian Deist says.  I'll add that it's my favorite post-Post Momentary Affliction album.  It's the production that holds it back.  Everything after PMA sounds like demos for the greatest metal band ever, not the finished product.  Listen to Brain Cleaner: it sounds a lot like discarded PMA demos.  If Brain Cleaner, Triumph of Mercy, or any other album had the production of the first few, I think Mortification would be the greatest Christian metal band ever, WAAY above Stryper, Tourniquet, or anyone else.

I think my fave Post PMA Mort album is Primitive Rhythm Machine.
I loved the semi tribal Sepultura chaos a.d. feel of the album.

eatbugs wrote:It was a fair review, which is the way it should be.  A music reviewer should judge the merits based on how good it is, not base how good/bad it is on the Christian content (unless the reviewer is writing specifically for a Christian-centric market).  Yes, they mention that it is Christian lyrically just like they should mention any lyrical content, they just shouldn't grade it on that.

In general, I've noticed over the years that the average metal fan doesn't care about how "Christian" an album is as long as it is good.  I also suspect that upper-level music exec's don't care as long as they make money.  It's the mid-level people in the music industry (DJ's, promoters, etc.), who propagate the negative stigma about Christian metal.  I'm not in the industry and I could be wrong, but I've noticed this.

About Triumph of Mercy itself, I agree with pretty much everything Contrarian Deist says.  I'll add that it's my favorite post-Post Momentary Affliction album.  It's the production that holds it back.  Everything after PMA sounds like demos for the greatest metal band ever, not the finished product.  Listen to Brain Cleaner: it sounds a lot like discarded PMA demos.  If Brain Cleaner, Triumph of Mercy, or any other album had the production of the first few, I think Mortification would be the greatest Christian metal band ever, WAAY above Stryper, Tourniquet, or anyone else.

I've been saying this about post-1995 Mortification for quite a while now. The songs and albums have potential, but are held back by the production as well as the over-simplifying of the music itself (especially in the drumming department). A more technical approach, especially with the drums, would have kept up the intensity in the performances, as well as provided a more fluid transition in people's minds as the band moved through different directions. Dropping most of the death vocals was also a bad choice IMO. Steve had a nice, distinct death growl (similar to Tom Angelripper's) but didn't have such a great "hardcore" style. Seemed like he was trying to emulate Gary Meskil from Pro-Pain but couldn't quite pull it off. Not trying to rag on the guy, I'm still a pretty big Mortification fan, but these are just my personal observations and critiques. I got to meet Steve Rowe back in '94 on the "Blood World" tour when I was at the height of my Mort fandom. He's a wonderful guy and I'll always remember that show!

Grindboy wrote:Honestly. . . I don't even think most Christians/Mort fans thought that was a good album.

I must be one of the few... because I like it. It’s better than The Silver Chord album.

Blood World, EnVision EvAngelene and Relentless are my favorite Mort albums without the classic lineup with Jayson Sherlock.

*had to edit a few times because I couldn’t remember how to spell the “EvAngelene” name.
Darn OCD!

I just recently got the remastered Metal Mind records edition of Hammer of God. I think it has some of the best guitar soloing on it from Lincoln Bowen. Steve really took the band into his Iron Maiden influence on that one.

Another thing I loved about Primitive, is the simple yet ultra-cool album cover.
Up to this album, Morts album covers were kinda meh. The first album had a cool cover( but back when I had my Mort collection I only had this album on cassette and it only had their logo as a cover..as there was that one and the cool cover, when I bought it I bought it at the local Christian bookstore and this was the only version they had), Scrolls cover was ...meh. PMA had a more complex cover but still just ok cover..., Blood World album cover...meh, but then Primitive came out and the cover immediately struck me....simple...yet effectively cool.
They've had some other good covers since though(I liked the envision cover alot, triumphs cover was cool, hammer of Gods cover...meh, I lost interest in Mort after hammer...ok album...but preferred death metal and BM so...., though I did listen to Relentless at the Christian bookstore and thought it was a step up from the last couple albums...allmost got it but opted for some UNblack Christian album instead...don't recall which one specifically).
A few years later left the faith and foolishly got rid of my Christian metal collection and stopped listening to any Christian metal for a number of years....until my reactionary bitterness subsided.
Anyways yeah...P.R.M. GREAT album with a MONDO COOL album cover!
Was just listening to it on YouTube for the first time in years...and it still kicks ass!

Contrarian Deist wrote:Another thing I loved about Primitive,  is the simple yet ultra-cool album cover.
Up to this album, Morts album covers were kinda meh. The first album had a cool cover( but back when I had my Mort collection I only had this album on cassette and it only had their logo as a cover..as there was that one and the cool cover,  when I bought it I bought it at the local Christian bookstore and this was the only version they had), Scrolls cover was ...meh. PMA had a more complex cover but still just ok cover..., Blood World album cover...meh, but then Primitive came out and the cover immediately struck me....simple...yet effectively cool.
They've had some other good covers since though(I liked the envision cover alot, triumphs cover was cool, hammer of Gods cover...meh, I lost interest in Mort after hammer...ok album...but preferred death metal and BM so...., though I did listen to Relentless at the Christian bookstore and thought it was a step up from the last couple albums...allmost got it but opted for some UNblack Christian album instead...don't recall which one specifically).
A few years later left the faith and foolishly got rid of my Christian metal collection and stopped listening to any Christian metal for a number of years....until my reactionary bitterness subsided.
Anyways yeah...P.R.M. GREAT album with a MONDO COOL album cover!
Was just listening to it on YouTube for the first time in years...and it still kicks ass!

43:31 is a kickass song!