Building on this success, the band began to write and record their follow up in early 1988, with producer Randy Burns brought in to oversee the operation. Burns had experience with such bands as Kreator, Dark Angel and Megadeth, and appeared to be a good fit for the band going forward.
Retaining the five piece twin guitar line up, the band and producer looked to retain the thrash metal roots of the first album, while looking for a more modern production that mirrored what was occurring with other big metal bands around the world. They looked to put together a clearer sounding album that harnessed the essence of the band but looked to push them to a smoother output that would appeal to that overseas market.
In the long run, there seemed to be an interminable delay in releasing the album, especially in an age where bands were releasing albums every 12-18 months. It was to become a common theme with the band’s career that always seemed beset with problems, whether it be with band members fighting or problems with management or with tours being poorly constructed, to albums being delayed in being recorded and released. Given that the band was booked to support Metallica on their Australian tour in 1989, having the album out some months in advance seemed to have been the best bet. In the long run, it was only three weeks before that tour started that “Face of Despair” saw the light of day, where it burned so bright at the time that you could hardly believe that Mortal Sin was not going to be, as they were feted by Kerrang magazine, the Next Big Thing.
This album has been a real journey, from the time that it was released, to the present day. And while by today’s standards it may not seem as majestic as it did back in 1989, I can assure you that on its release it was one of those amazing releases.
The opening to the album is simply superb. The brilliant bassline opening riff from Andy Eftichiou before being joined by the superb drums of Wayne Campbell and then that crunching riff from Paul Carwana and Mick Burke is just perfect, a great opening to the first track “I Am Immortal”. It sets the scene immediately, and crushes throughout, brought to a head by Mat Maurer’s chanting chorus “I... I am immortal!!” As the first song on their sophomore album, it meets the old fans expectations as well as giving the new fans a terrific starting point. This is followed by the exquisite “Voyage of the Disturbed”, a song written about the Challenger shuttle disaster of 1986, utilising lyrics such as “with dignity and pride, the government denied, pushing to the limits 'cos they're never satisfied”, and “Fear, succumbing to the needs of political might, Sheer, astronomical pressure as you hit the speed of light, Another seven faces, another misery, No one seems to realise the fate of history”, it also comes with a great opening guitar riff and excellent build up through the song to its climax. On these opening two tracks, Mortal Sin lay down the template for the remainder of the album to follow.
The remainder of side one of the album continues on this heady path. “The Infantry Corps” combines the band’s distrust of the government and the defence forces in a scathing assessment of the motives behind both when it comes to the young men sacrificed in war. “For Richer For Poorer” attacks the government and big corporations for the still-relevant greed of the rich getting richer and the poor staying poor. “Martyrs of Eternity” invokes government and religion within the lyrics. One thing that is obvious throughout is the band’s view on politicians, all mixed into a great cacophony of guitars and drums and great vocals from Maurer to have fists pumping in the air.
The back half of the albums contains more of the same. “Innocent Torture” speaks about the frustration of a man serving time for a crime he didn’t commit. “Suspended Animation” is about a person who was frozen and then reanimated years later, and realising the world is no better now than it was in his own time. “H” is about one of thrash metals favourite topics, nuclear war, and the world beyond it. “Terminal Reward” examines what happens after death, while “Robbie Soles” is a closing rant on politics as a whole.
The music throughout is fantastic, but in looking back from this distance, it is amazing just how ahead of its time it was. Because this is a style of thresh metal that hadn’t actually been around at the time. Listening to it now, it is obvious that there are influences from those huge metal bands of the time including Metallica and Megadeth and Anthrax who were leading the charge at this point in time. But here, this is a lot closer to the sound of albums that were yet to be conceived, such as Metallica’s black album, and Megadeth’s “Countdown to Extinction”, albums that came after those band’s biggest thrash moments in “And Justice for All” and “Rust in Peace”. So theoretically, this albums pre-dates where both of those bands went after those albums. Obviously, this was not relatable at the time – I just loved this album and the songs they wrote for this album. But if you do listen to songs like “Martyrs of Eternity” and “For Richer For Poorer” today, to me that is what you have, a sound that actually came for others 2-3 years AFTER this album. Sure, this is just my opinion, but it seems obvious now listening to this album 35 years later. Or perhaps I’m just imagining it.
I first became aware of Mortal Sin through the Australia heavy magazine Hot Metal, who championed their cause from their first issue, and had put the song “Mayhemic Destruction” on their compilation album that came with an issue. The music video program Rage on ABCTV also showed a live recording of their song “Lebanon” from that album almost every week, so the band was very much on my radar. Then they were announced as the support band for Metallica when they toured on the Damaged Justice tour, their first of Australia, and then the album “Face of Despair” was released a few short weeks before that tour began. So, everything felt as though it was careering towards the epicentre. And that concert, at the Hordern Pavillion in Sydney on May 6, 1989, remains the best I have ever seen, and Mortal Sin had a massive part of that thanks to them. Their eight song setlist, including six from “Face of Despair”, was incredible. There was no nerves, they played as though everyone was there to see them, and by the end, they were. 40 minutes of sweating headbanging bodies soaked to the skin, even before the headline act came on. They were just amazing.
As to the album itself, I was head over heels in love with it from the get go, and a lot of that was because I had seen them live and knew just what the band put into their music. I kept switching from Justice to this album over and over again in the months that followed. On Friday night get togethers this album always came out for a spin, resulting in much mayhem through those first few tracks. The band that some friends of mine formed later that year even had a crack at two of the tracks on this album. I had the Voyage of the Disturbed T- shirt from that concert for years, until it finally just fell apart from over wearing. It was a sad day when it finally succumbed, as it was the final relic of that amazing first time I saw the band live.
Fast forward to the present and this album, along with “Mayhemic Destruction”, were both remastered and re-released last year, and as my original battered vinyl copy had been lost in the flood that ravaged my home back in 2001, I jumped at the chance to replace it, and put it alongside my CD copy that is signed by all five members of the band that recorded it. And I still play this album often to this day.
So sure, let’s talk about the album on reflection. Because my blinding love for it 35 years ago will always be at the forefront of any discussion on “Face of Despair” today. And I have played it a dozen times over again over the past couple of days and enjoyed every moment of it. But I know there are plenty of people out there that don’t get what I hear in this album. Some question whether it is truly thrash and not just a generic heavy metal album.
Listening to the album nowadays, I can understand where those people are coming from. They don’t have the memories of seeing the band live, and the way they would destroy in a live environment. They listen to a 35 year old album that isn’t the speed and absolute thrash from the Bay Area, but the band’s own version of that. It’s a fair comment and I won’t deny that they have a point. But this album was Mortal Sin, Australia’s flag bearing metal band, taking on the world, and this they did, touring Europe on their own as well as opening for Testament in Europe and Faith No More in the UK on the back of this album. And remember, this album was in the era of Justice, when thrash metal was transitioning to the amazing technical things that that album preached.
Whatever others may think – or you yourself may think – this was an album in time for me, one that still engenders so many amazing memories and great feelings. As a 19 year old, on the cusp on making big changes in my life, this album was one that went on that journey with me, and has never left the building since. It is, however, still hard to come to terms with the fact that for many reasons, Mortal Sin was never able to live up to the promise that is stamped all over this album.
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