MORTIFICATION leader Steve Rowe checks in with the following update:

"Wow! This year is going fast! Seems like yesterday I was touring Europe with the band and that was ten months ago! All things are in preparation for the worldwide release of the "Live Humanitarian" double DVD set through Nuclear Blast Records. This project has turned out to be a real blessing. A bunch of guys over in Perth, Western Australia, put this package together for next to no charge. Considering this DVD production has a value of $50,000, it is amazing just how God's people worldwide help to keep this Mort mission alive. Due to this being done for us as a mission, I was able to present it to Nuclear Blast at no charge. So let us believe that the images and words presented will impact people's lives and sell well for the mighty NB! There is no way I could have presented such a great production to NB without the tireless work of Steve Mullen and all his team at Metal Mission Australia. Eternal gratefulness to all involved!

We have some new photos in the Photos gallery and one here featuring Mick and myself with Dave Kilgallon our new drummer. It is great to have a young man in the band again. Dave was just 7 when Mort started! We also have the poster for our Melbourne show here for you all to see. We are opening the night for Melbourne metal legends MEDUSA and a new band called Luthor. We are catching an early flight to Sydney on Friday October 3rd for our Mainstage appearance at the Black Stump festival on Saturday October 4th. We are on stage in Melbourne at 8:30pm and at Black Stump at 8:00pm.

For all those coming to the Melbourne show at Ruby's Lounge, please be early because we have some great give-aways including one copy of the Live Humanitarian DVD. I am hoping Nuclear Blast will have copies of the DVD to me by late September. I will also be giving away one copy of the DVD at Black Stump and two Live Humanitarian CDs will also be given away at both shows.

We will be recording a demo of a new song very soon at Penny Drop Studio, where we plan to record the new album next year. Penny Drop Studio is the old St Andrews Studio where we recorded EnVision EvAngelene and Bloodworld. The new songs are sounding very heavy with, once again, a fresh approach in the vein of Erasing The Goblin, but different! Ha, ha! Re-invention is the master of all art! Yes, there is plenty of fast stuff but expect the unexpected. The next album will be a very sudden, out of the blocks, in your face, aggressive thunder ball! We are not letting out album or song titles until next year.

Thank you once again to all the amazing people who have helped support this mission this past month. I see Mortification as a dying breed of metal, with most Christians in bands opting to have little or no message anymore. This is something that I find discouraging. That said, I do understand that tolerance for the Christian message is lessening and, thus, bands are simply singing about other stuff. Anyway, if you are on my wave-length and want to see the message continuing to go out through channels like Nuclear Blast Records, you can support through PayPal. Simply donate to info@roweproductions.com to save this mission.

Hope to catch some of you at the upcoming shows."