Mortal Sin is an Australian thrash metal

Thrash metal

Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...

 band that formed in 1985, and arguably the first band in Australia to play purely thrash metal.

History

The group formed around singer Mat Maurer and drummer Wayne Campbell in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

. At first Campbell had attempted to get Maurer into another band called Wizzard but the rest of that band was reluctant to support the idea so the pair struck out on their own, quickly recruiting Wizzard's guitar Keith Krstin, bass player Andy Eftichiou from a band called Judge and a second guitarist Neville Reynolds. Reynolds was fired for not being available to play at the band's very first show and was replaced by Paul Carwana.

Mortal Sin quickly developed a solid following and only seven months after their first live show the band recorded an album-length demo in a mere three days in July 1986. The eight track recording was eventually released in late 1986 as Mayhemic Destruction and released as an album on the band's own label Mega Metal Productions. Reaction to the album was immediate and the band was snapped up for an international album deal by Phonogram Records

Phonogram Records

Phonogram Records was started in 1962 as a joint venture between Philips Records and Deutsche Grammophon. In 1972, Phonogram was merged with Polydor Records into PolyGram....

 UK, who then re-released Mayhemic Destruction worldwide in 1987. In the meantime, Krstin was replaced by Mick Burke from fellow Sydney thrash act Slaughter Lord. Mortal Sin spent much of 1988 recording a second album with producer Randy Burns, who had previously worked with Kreator & Megadeth. The release of Face of Despair was held over until early 1989; shortly afterward the band gained further prominence with an Australian tour with Metallica

Metallica

Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...

 in May but Campbell was sacked shortly after. Another former Slaughter Lord member in Steve Hughes

Steve Hughes

Steve Hughes is an Australian musician and stand-up comedian.-Music career:In the early 1980s he formed the Sydney thrash metal band Slaughter Lord, who recorded some demos before disbanding. Hughes then joined Mortal Sin in 1989 and stayed with them until 1991...

 replaced him. In January 1990, Mortal Sin toured Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 and the UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 then played some shows in the US

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 but after their final show there Maurer quit the band.

On its return to Australia, the band split, only to reform a short time later with Steve Sly replacing Maurer. The vocal power and range of Sly immediately captivated the "die hard" fans and acceptance was swift, giving new life to the classic Mortal Sin tunes, propelling them to a new musical level, however by the end of the year, due to past management and touring issues Hughes, Burke and Carawanna had all left the band to pursue other interests. Eftichiou and Sly developed a brotherly bond and continued rebuilding the band recruiting Alex Hardy (guitar), Dave DeFrancesco (guitar, ex-Enticer) and drummer Nash Hall, the band toured for 12 months and recorded a third album entitled Every Dog Has Its Day (released as Rebellious Youth in some markets) that showcased a more traditional metal style than previously which was accepted with varying degrees of enthusiasm throughout the "metal market". The band suffered issues of being too big for the club/pub circuit in Australia which was exemplified when Sly and band returned to his home base of Newcastle (the first time the band had played there in any form) at the Cambridge Hotel, as the band played mayhem and disorder exploded in Hunter Street, an overwhelming fan turn out, 100's more than the venue could accommodate, arrests, injuries, and a ban from Newcastle imposed. The new combination, affected by management failure, venue issues and internal bickering, caused by the former, ultimately led to the 1992 demise of this incarnation of Mortal Sin.

For the next few years Wayne Campbell featured in bands such as White Trash and Grungeon and also worked as a promoter and Steve Hughes played in Presto and Nazxul

Nazxul

Nazxul is a black metal band from Sydney, Australia. At one time featuring members of other prominent local metal bands including Mortal Sin and Sadistik Exekution, Nazxul has released two albums, an EP and several split releases with other bands....

. Andy Eftichiou formed Who's Guilty, a heavy rock band that achieved minor significance with an EP and ironically also included two former members of Wizard, plus in its "second coming" featured Steve Sly on Vocals . Mick Burke moved into the area of sound engineering. Mat Maurer formed his own band Omega which supported Scatterbrain, but the band did not progress into a writing stage.

Sly then made a total "genre shift" and was asked to front the highly successful Pop Rock outfit "The Chosen Few", who penned such tunes as "Rise" that was re recorded by Daryl Braithwaite of Sherbet fame, that shot to top ten chart success in several countries.
On the eve of a recording deal in Germany Sly suffered serious health concerns, a nervous breakdown following a suicide attempt and ensuing depressive illness forced him to cease his singing career indefinitely.

It was not until 1996, when Campbell and Maurer then reformed Mortal Sin with Eftichiou and Carwana, plus Anthony Hoffman from Campbell's band Grungeon. Carwana departed almost immediately and was replaced by Troy Scerri, who had previously played alongside Campbell in White Trash. This version of the band released an EP - Revolution of the Mind independently and launched the first full-scale Australian tour that Mortal Sin had ever undertaken. The tour was not particularly successful and eventually Eftichiou was sacked, replaced briefly by the bassist from Sydney death metal

Death metal

Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....

 band Tscabeze for the group's only appearance at the annual Metal For The Brain

Metal for the Brain

Metal for the Brain was Australia's largest heavy metal music festival. The event was held in Canberra annually, usually towards the end of the year, and featured Australian bands almost exclusively...

 festival in Canberra

Canberra

Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...

. Jason Thorncraft of Sydney's Headlifter took Eftichiou's place after this but Mortal Sin split up once more in September 1998. The original Australian thrash metal band's reformation had lasted less than two years.

However, the band still was not finished, and in February 2004 Mortal Sin returned once more, this time as Campbell, Maurer, Eftichou and former Addictive

Addictive (band)

Addictive was an Australian thrash metal band, that formed in 1988. It was part of the Sydney thrash metal scene of the late 1980s. It was particularly influenced by Metallica and Sacred Reich.-History:...

 guitarists Joe Buttigieg and Mick Sultana. A year later, Mortal Sin was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the inaugural Australian Heavy Metal Music Awards but within a month the line-up changed again when Campbell and Buttigieg were replaced by Luke Cook and Nathan Shea. In April 2005, Mortal Sin toured Australia with Anthrax and a comeback album is being recorded. On 4 February 2006, the band played a show in Sydney that featured them performing the Mayhemic Destruction album live in its entirety for the first time; this performance was filmed for a proprosed DVD release, however Mortal Sin announced in late June 2006 that the project was abandoned due to poor audio quality.

In August 2006, the band returned to European stages to play some shows in Germany, firstly with Rock over Hamburg alongside Michael Schenker Group

Michael Schenker Group

The Michael Schenker Group is a guitar-oriented hard rock band formed in 1979 by former Scorpions and UFO guitarist, Michael Schenker. In 1986, Schenker and vocalist Robin McAuley formed the McAuley Schenker Group, which lasted until 1992. After that, the Michael Schenker Group was reformed.The...

, Rose Tattoo

Rose Tattoo

Rose Tattoo is an Australian rock and roll band, now led by Angry Anderson, that was formed in Sydney in 1976. Their sound is hard rock mixed with blues rock influences, with songs including "Bad Boy for Love", "Rock 'n' Roll Outlaw", "Nice Boys", "We Can't Be Beaten" and "Scarred for Life"...

, Metal Church

Metal Church

Metal Church was an American heavy metal band. They originally formed in Seattle, Washington as Shrapnel in 1980. Their first album was released in 1984, and the band's most recent work, This Present Wasteland, was released in 2008....

, Victory, Gorilla Monsoon and Tourettes Syndrome

Tourettes (band)

Tourettes is a heavy metal band from Sydney, Australia founded in January 2000. Their style has been described as "a mixture of hardcore, nu-metal and other elements to create an apoplectic and eclectic noise."...

. The band also performed at the Wacken Open Air Festival

Wacken Open Air

Wacken Open Air is a summer open air heavy metal music festival. It takes place annually in the small town of Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany...

. Mortal Sin's fourth full-length album An Absence of Faith was recorded in February 2007 at The Basement Studios in Sydney with producer Phil McKellar. It was released in July 2007 in Australia through Riot! Entertainment

Riot Entertainment

Riot! Entertainment is an independent record label, music distribution service and tour promoter based in Wollongong, Australia. According to their website, Riot is Australia's biggest heavy metal music distribution company. The company serves as the Australian distributor for Nuclear Blast, Metal...

 and in Europe in September through Germany's

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 Armageddon Music. In late 2007, the band also released reissued versions of Mayhemic Destruction and Face Of Despair through Riot!, both of which contained bonus tracks.

Mortal Sin returned to Europe in March 2008 as support to Overkill to tour and promote the new album. In the Summer of 2008, the band played some festival gigs like the Wacken Open Air

Wacken Open Air

Wacken Open Air is a summer open air heavy metal music festival. It takes place annually in the small town of Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany...

 and Jalometalli

Jalometalli Metal Music Festival

Jalometalli Metal Music Festival is a heavy metal festival held annually in Finland since 2002. The festival has mainly old school thrash metal and death and black metal bands.-2004:Held on August 20 and August 21 at Kuusisaari in Oulu.August 20:...

. Back in Australia, they supported Judas Priest and Testament in 2008 and late in 2009 undertook a two week tour of South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

.

In June 2011 Mortal Sin finished recording a new album "Psychology of Death" with nine tracks: Psychology of Death, Blood of My Enemies, Paralysed by Fear,Burned into your Soul, Deny, Doomed to Annihilation, Kingdom of Pain, Down in the Pit & Hatred. Ryan Huthnance replaced Mick Sultana on guitar.

Band members

Current:

• Mat Maurer - Vocals (1985–1990, 1996–present)
• Andy Eftichiou - Bass (1985–1991, 1996–1997, 2004–present)
• Ryan Huthnance - Guitar (2010–present)
• Luke Cook - Drums (2005–present)
• Nathan Shea - Guitar (2005–present)

Former:

• Mick Sultana - guitar (2004–2009)
• Wayne Campbell - drums (1985–1989, 1996–2005)
• Paul Carwana - guitar (1986–1990, 1996)
• Keith Krstin - guitar (1985–1987)
• Mick Burke - guitar (1987–1990)
• Steve Hughes - drums (1989–1990)
• Joe Buttigieg - guitar (2004–2005)
• Steve Sly - vocals (1990–1992)
• Alex Hardy - guitar (1990–1991)
• Dave DeFrancesco - guitar (1990–1991)
• Tom Dostupil - guitar (1991)
• Nash Hall - drums (1990–1991)
• Anthony Hoffman - guitar (1996–1998)
• Troy Scerri - guitar (1996–1998)
• "Chook" - bass (one show, 1997)
• Jason Thorncraft - bass (1997–1998)
• Neville Reynolds - guitar (1985–1986)

External links

• Mortal Sin homepage