832. Mortal Sin / Mayhemic Destruction. 1987. 4.5/5

When Metallica first toured Australia in May 1989, they announced that local metal act Mortal Sin would be their support. Before that gig I bought their new album Face of Despair, played it to death and loved every second of it. I even bought their tour shirt ("Voyage of the Disturbed!") which finally died from overuse. After the gig, I went searching for their debut album, Mayhemic Destruction, from which the band had played a couple of tracks, most noticeably the brilliant "Lebanon". There was just one problem. Back in the day, this album was as rare as hens teeth, and just as difficult to track down. Believe me, I tried for a very long time before I found it, and that was even through Utopia Records, who can get just about anything! Today of course it would be practically impossible to find a physical copy of this album, but at least with iTunes you can still find and buy this album, which is a great thing (yes, it is up there now if you are interested). What I eventually had to be happy with was a second hand cassette I found in a Newtown second hand record store a few years later - I would love to have had the vinyl, I really would. However, beggars can't be choosers, and at least I had a copy of the album.

This is a brilliant slice of metal history, certainly from an Australian perspective. At a time when thrash metal was being heralded by bands such as Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, Exodus and Testament, this album loses nothing in comparison to those early albums by these bands. The opening track is an instrumental, "The Curse", which serves as an introduction to the band and its wares. This is followed by "Women in Leather", where Mat Maurer's recognisable vocals make their first appearance. The mighty "Lebanon" has been a legendary classic amongst the Australian metal community for 30 years, and is still a shining light all these years later. "Liar" and "Blood Death Hatred" blitz along with a cacophony of double kick and blazing guitar. "Mortal Slaughter" and "Into the Fire" continue the metal fest, before "Mayhemic Destruction" finishes off the album in style, speeding along while Maurer tries a different vocal technique here to create a full collection of thrash metal stereotype songs.
The band itself is on fire throughout the whole album, and for something that was really only meant to be a demo tape, this is quite amazing. The quality of the musicianship is just brilliant. The guitaring of Keith Krstin and Paul Carwana sounds great - raw in places certainly, but impressive all the same. Andy Eftichoiu's bass work is terrific, really giving the songs the bottom end that they need and deserve, and making its presence felt throughout. So too is Wayne Campbell's drumming, hard and tough and loud and the driving force through the album, able to dictate the tempo of every song to perfection. Mat Maurer's vocals top off the set, and while they are not as cultured here as they would be on the following album, he mixes things up, singing with great poise on "Women in Leather" and descending to a growl and scream on "Mayhemic Destruction".

It might seem like tame stuff now, almost thirty years on from its initial release, but at the time it was huge - monstrous even. I only saw the band a few times live, in their different guises depending on who had been recruited at the time, but at their peak they were a worthy contender for best Australian metal band. How they didn't go on to bigger and better things is still a mystery - band disharmony has often stopped bands in their tracks. Despite all of that, this album still holds its own in the annals of metaldom, and is an album I can put on at any time and still love.

Rating:  Send out the kamikazes on a suicide attack.  4.5/5