MORTIFICATION - BREAK THE CURSE 20TH anniversary release

The mega-tornado from Australia, Mortification, just had their original album re-mastered and re-released on Roxx Records. Break the Curse features raw brutal thrash metal that is short on subtly and long on intensity. All men play on ten and this release is on eleven. A metal assault that will dig in and take no prisoners this album is the real thing.

Nuclear Blast originally put out Break the Curse in 1993, capitalizing on Mortifications and death metals increasing popularity. While Break the Curse doesn’t quite fall into the death metal category it does fit nicely in the thrash camp. The classic tunes are here ‘Brutal Warfare,’ ‘Blood Sacrifice,’ ‘Your Last Breath’ and many others with a pulsating 500 horsepower engine driving it.

Bill at Roxx has really done all metal fans a service with this re-release. They’ve included several hard to find bonuses such as the studio version of ‘Time Crusaders.’ This obscure track had originally been released on a rare Rowe Productions compilation. A live version was available on Mortys Live Planetarium album of 1993. A classic song with a fantastic studio rendition

Also included is a Lightforce rendition of ‘Eyes of Destruction.’ As the guy on TV would say, ‘But wait there’s MORE!!’ as another bonus the hard to find live EP Noah sat down and Listened to the Mortification Live E.P. While Having a Coffee is here in all of its 3 song plus Steve Rowe interview glory. However there is STILL MORE! A bonus DVD of the very first Mortification concert; this was shot on a VHS recorder, but the quality is decent. The operator does zoom in so we get a feeling of actually being there. The audio is acceptable which doesn’t take away from the performance at all.

The inlays are fabulous. A nice collections of photos and posters from that time period. Steve Rowe contributes a cool history lesson of the material compiled on this release for those of us 'who were doing other things' when this went down. Kudos to Scott Waters for assembling this part of the project with great style and sensibility. The original Noah... EP cover is located in the back inlay of all places! Perfect! One other bit of importance (well actually two) 1st. The initial 100 discs came with a bonus Mortification guitar pick with a Steve Rowe autograph made special for this release only. 2nd There is also a totally cool looking T-Shirt as well which features the cover art and a killer inscription on the back. I didn't have the cash myself to order but from what I've seen this shirt rules, especially for all of you Morty collectors. This too was a limited run as I understand, no more than 100 I'm sure but you had to buy it presale as well. Snooze ya lose.

I never had a copy of any of this material before so hearing this now is a treat. This definitely reminds me old school European thrash. The production is good but not at all overproduced, very underground in feel like old Kreator, Destruction I suppose. You won’t confuse this with Metallica’s Black Album. You just have to start headbanging when you hear this album however, it’s that good.

This isn’t about two million mile an hour songs, but only 1 million mile an hour songs! Break the Curse is a superb piece of metal history that must be in your collection. The historical significance aside, musically it reminds us why Mortification has had the impact they’ve had. My only regret is that I waited twenty years to hear it.

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