Mortal Sin Rehearsal, LA Studios; Sydney 03/12/05
The WORLD PREMIERE of LEBANON Pt2.
HailMetal.com crew received an invitation by Australian Thrash metal legends Mortal Sin to attend a live rehearsal for their upcoming gig at Bar Broadway on the 17th Dec 05 here in Sydney. Rehearsed among a number of new songs for their upcoming and currently untitled album (rumored to be 'Far from Extinction') was "Lebanon Part II". We were absolutely excited to be offered the opportunity to hear the exclusive world premiere of 'Tears of Redemption - Lebanon Part Two' and other songs from the new album. To grasp this fantastic opportunity both Militia and Oliver travelled for over an hour by car.
We met the Mortals at LA studios in Bossley Park while they were having their meal break. The extremely friendly and delightful chaps welcomed us warmly and we went to the pub next door for a couple of beers while they were having something to eat. Both Militia and I were wearing Mortal Sin shirts and got into a conversation with a worker there about the band. He told us how he used to go to their gigs when he was younger and that he has noticed them practicing twice a week for over six months. This certainly explained the ferocity of what we heard at the studio.
The experience was overwhelming and one can only pity those that couldn`t make it. Luckily, this opportunity will arise again soon, as the band has confirmed that they will follow up their new album release with a large tour which may even extend overseas. Mat added that Mortal Sin would be considering moving abroad permanently as Aussie talent is unseen and far removed from the rest of the metal world making it harder to attain support from non Australian fans. Honestly, we hope for our sake that the Mortals stay and manage to embark on the world stage from here.
We joined them back at the studio shortly after their break and immediately watched them get into the business. The Mortals played an extremely energetic and loud rehearsal set to a couple of us located only a few feet from the band as can be seen from the numerous photos that we captured.
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| Out Of The Darkness Single 2005 Cover Art |
The first few songs rehearsed were from Mayhemic Destruction, including The Curse and Women in PANTIES [laughs], followed by the very brilliant Voyage of the Disturbed from Face of Despair, as well as Robbie Soles and number of others. The band was absolutely professional and performed with impeccable musicianship and timing. They played the entire set with great synergy as if it were an actual concert, taking virtually no breaks through the set and introducing a few of their numbers to us lucky spectators who were getting into heavy head banging as the solos and minutes ripped passed.
Attributing to the brilliant performance are two new additions to the band, the very impressive Nathan Shae on guitars and the unstoppable Luke Cook on drums. There has been a definite improvement in the Mortals current sound, thanks to these two and they are once again firmly bound for the thrashy range of the metal music spectrum. Luke is a never tiring hard working mean machine, and with his black metal background adds that old-school feel to the band and only ran out of puff after almost four hours of non stop playing. Nathan was quite impressive with his guitar, shredding with speed and accuracy nicely complementing the lead guitarist Mick Sultana (formerly in Addictive) who sure knows how to play with speed and aggression but lacks a bit of stage movement. Among the band Andy has the most stage presence, and plays his bass with absolute passion. His stage actions are very animated and he definitely adds the fun element to the bands onstage theatrics. Wearing what seems to be his favourite Dream Theatre t-shirt Mat looked the most serious of the bunch and his face indicated that Mortal Sin meant business, and they certainly have a great product under their belt with the new album. As always, his vocals were delivered with as much energy and conviction as we have come to expect from Mortal Sin.
Nearly two decades since the release of Lebanon which is the bands most renowned piece came the witnessing of Lebanon Part II. Well, it was a huge wait, wasn`t it? Simply put the new song is a massive bombshell spanning over ten minutes with a monstrous solo, a daunting intro and a plethora of amazing riffs that will have you head banging insanely from start to finish. Ironically we enjoyed the song so much that it did not at all feel like it was being played for over ten minutes. With its very quick and precise riffing and a thundering wall of sound backed by battering drums one can only imagine the intense reaction the song would draw in the mosh pit and amongst large crowds. Other new songs played, including Say Your Prays were very solid and thrashy and impressed us so much, that we have no doubt in the new album becoming as great a classic as Mayhemic Destruction, if not better! Let`s hope the Mortals release the album soon as some of us cannot sleep at night.
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The rehearsal finished around 6:30pm where we caught some three hours of metal thrashing mayhem and had an absolute blast. It was a truly amazing experience! Awestruck by the performance Militia forgot to request the bands classic "The Infantry Corps".
Mortal Sin entered Megaphon Studios on October 29-30 this year with producer Phil McKellar to record their new single titled "Out of the Darkness" for their upcoming and yet untitled new album. With some patience we managed to scan the art for this single from the key rings given to us by the band. The single will include a recently shot video plus live tracks taken from the bands Australian Tour with Anthrax.
According to Mat Maurer, there might be some surprises with the running order on the night of their next gig at Bar Broadway on the 17th. A hint to all Mortal fans: do not arrive extremely late. Many great thanks to Mortal Sin for being such terrific hosts and happily signing our posters, DVDs and set lists. See you on the 17th!
Hails,
Oliver & Militia
For heaps more HIGH RES / QUALITY photos. head to HM gallery.
