Mortification - Helping out Steve Rowe
Like many readers, this writer rejoices that a picture of Steve Rowe is gracing the cover of this magazine -- and it's not one of those photos with two dates underneath it, if you know what I mean. Like most who go through something like this, Steve's bout with Leukemia was a trial even for his friends. It's tough seeing a loved one suffer, and it challenges your faith and ability to endure in prayer. When I visited Steve at his home last June, he probably came as close to death as he ever had -- suffering massive seizures as his body convulsed and seemed to be shutting down. Like a boxer knocked against the ropes and reaching for that fight deep down inside, his body has only improved since that point. Now he's on the verge of recording a new album with Mortification and embarking on a five-week U.S. tour this Summer. This contrast in health truly appears to be a modern day miracle
"It was pretty tough back then," recalls guitarist Lincoln Bowen. "I was so shocked by the whole thing. I had to keep telling myself things like, 'All things work together for good for them that love the Lord.' It would sort of get on top of me every now and then, but in a way it helped, because I knew I wasn't living in denial of Steve's situation. At the same time, I was believing God would bring him through it."
"It was hard on us all," affirms drummer Keith Bannister. "It was a time of putting total trust in God and spending a lot of time in constant prayer. It has been amazing to see God's awesome healing power and all that He has done in Steve's life during this time -- seeing the very worst times Steve had and seeing Steve now getting back to his normal self. God has shown and taught me many things during this time, the most important is to always put your total trust in God."
One significant impact we won't know this side of Heaven is the effect of the prayers of many HM readers and Mortification fans across the world. This touched Steve deeply. I remember him opening a letter from South America that had a cloth that had been prayed over; and I recall the fighting and compassionate prayers of his local church and family members. "The number of cards, letters and e-mails was just incredible," describes Steve. "I knew I had a massive army of prayer warriors behind me and that was a big factor in me winning the war. When we came into financial trouble, the donations that came in were nothing short of amazing."
Several bands staged multi-band benefit concerts for Steve, including but not limited to Frank's Enemy in Florida and Ethereal Scourge in his homeland. "I can't thank all the people involved in those enough," says a blown-away Steve. "Many never got thanked personally, because I was so sick and out of it. You know who you are, and my family and ministry have survived because of you!"
Several of his friends in Melbourne put together an album of Mortification covers (save for the "One Man" cut by Rosanna's Raiders), called Modification -- A Tribute To Steve Rowe And Mortification. "I was totally shocked," admits Steve, "because I knew nothing about it. My engineer, Mark McCormack, simply phoned all the Christian artists he knew and asked them to cover one of my songs in their own style. A lot of it was played to me as it was being compiled, but I was so out of it, I couldn't remember. Then, when Mark played me the finished product, I was shocked out of my brain. There's some classic stuff on there, like an acoustic version of 'Your Life,' an extra funny version of 'Noah Was A Knower' by a comedy team, and some great new Death / Grind versions of old songs by Jayson Sherlock and Michael Carlisle's projects. Keith and Lincoln got together with a couple of friends and did the old Lightforce classic 'Metal Missionary.' Rosanna Palmer wrote a song about me, which was a real blessing. You can order the album from me for $20. All proceeds go to pay my medical bills."
With a healthy prognosis from all his doctors, Steve and the band have forged ahead and written material for a new Mortification album -- called Triumph Of Mercy. It's interesting to note the dramatic stylistic changes this album brings. While one might expect an album full of acoustic worship from Steve and Co. after surviving such an ordeal, but Mortification returns with a decidedly heavy album. "We have decided to go back to a Death Metal / Grindcore sound mixed with Envision style classic metal," describes Steve.
"The heavier direction Mortification is taking doesn't make a whole lot of difference to my playing," admits Lincoln, "apart from tuning down. I've always tried to sound as heavy as possible, but I have to try and not play the same leads all the time. The actual guitar sound will be a little different than the last album, simply because I'll be doing most of it with a different guitar. That is pretty normal, though, because the guitar sound on each Mortification album is different to the next. I like the idea of playing heavier music, and most Mort fans will too, I think."
"Over the past five years," explains Steve, "the Grind / Death scene has really died, and now Black Metal has taken over and there is a huge glut of these bands copying each other. The big bands will survive, but I'm sure this over-run scene will die just as Death / Grind did, because people eventually get bored. My original idea was to do another Envision type album and make it more Classic Metal, since that is the huge new trend in Europe and Australia. Nuclear Blast over the past years have dropped all but two of their Death / Grind bands. Even these two -- Dismember and Benediction -- were not selling well, but now their latest releases have boomed. Nuclear has always enjoyed our Death / Grind sound, and they reminded us that there's basically no more Death / Grind bands anymore. When they signed us with Scrolls, all they were signing was Death / Grind, so I'm glad we have done diverse albums and stayed alive and not died out with any trend. We ditched the Death / Grind sound around the Blood World era, and now that it's not a trend to be Death / Grind any more, we're adding elements of that back to our music."
When pressed for a more detailed description of this new sound, he replied, "A cross between Envision, Scrolls, and Post Momentary."
"Steve is doing Death vocals a lot," adds Keith. "Some of the songs have Grind parts, and each song is very individual sounding."
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