The pressure behind the scenes was beginning to take its toll however. Two of the most integral parts of the band were removed during this time. Drummer Wayne Campbell, whose drumming on those two albums had been so important, was fired from the band following the Metallica shows, while lead vocalist Mat Maurer quit the band after the European and US legs of their international tour. Maurer’s vocals had been hailed, and his loss meant the band had to find someone who could not only be the frontman of the band but could handle the intense vocal duties at the same time. Steve Hughes from Slaughter Lord had come in on drums, but when he and the band’s two guitarists Paul Carwana and Mick Burke all quit not long after, it looked as though the band was finished.
Sole remaining member, bass guitarist Andy Eftichiou had other ideas, and began to rebuild the band. He had recruited lead singer Steve Sly shortly before the mass exodus, and between them they brought in Alex Hardy and Dave DeFrancesco on guitars and Nash Hall on drums. The reformed band began to tour and get the new lineup known to the public. As a part of this, they entered the studio to write and record a new album, one that they hoped would not only help promote the band with new material to play at live shows, but also to show that, despite the changing line up, Mortal Sin was still around and looking to reestablish itself with the fans. As seemed to be the case for the band during its existence, not everything ran according to plan, not even the new album. For some reason, it was released under two different names in different markets, something which obvious made it very difficult to market and promote properly. Some places had it called “Every Dog Has Its Day”, but in Australia, it was released under the name the band had wanted, and that album name was “Rebellious Youth”.
Given this is almost completely an entirely new band from the one that recorded the first two albums, it is only natural to expect a different sounding album from those two. And that is what you get. Comparing it to those albums doesn’t make a lot of sense, because this band apart from its bass player has nothing in common with them. Indeed, it makes more sense to listen to the album without those expectations as a result. I feel it would be a lot higher regarded if this was the case.
The album opens up with the energetic “Inside Out”, leading with a two-minute clear guitared opening that builds in heaviness that sounds as though it should perhaps have had its own introductory naming, and allowed the actual song to crash into its beginning after this build. It sounds great, but because the two parts are so different from each other, they should have been split on the track list. Once into the heart of the song, the song explodes into a fast tempo with great grooving guitars, and Steve Sly opens with an over-the-top scream of vocals before falling back into his average range. Anthrax-like backing vocals complement the track, which kicks off the album in a great way. “Access Denied” leads off with its sci-fi story through spoken word, explaining the basis of the song before the opening drum and guitar groove enters to kick us in the right direction. Once we are underway there is a more traditional heavy thrash speed sound going on, with the urgent tempo pushing everything into overdrive. Sly’s vocals again have moments where they fit perfectly along with moments where they just stray into territory that they don’t quite fit. In some ways there is a King Diamond sense about the way he constructs his vocals, but cerainly not to the extremes that King does. The song that acts as the pseudo-title track, “Every Dog Has Its Day” is next, and it is one of the heavy anthems that works best on the album, bringing a great riff to the show and lyrics that can be chanted by crowds at gigs with ease. Is there a bit of Death Angel about this song? I think so. It’s catchy, and melodic both lyrically and musically, with great solos through the middle of the song. It’s a beauty.
“Behind the Lies” goes a little darker, and is also where Sly goes to his upper range for a majority of the vocals on the track, something that gives it a flourishing focus, and drives this track with a distinctive style that moves it apart from the front half of the album. The band then offers us “Wasted Days”, the track captures the album’s reflective side, with lyrics that explore regret, lost time, and personal struggle. When you hear a word like ‘wasted’ in a song title, you can almost always guarantee that this means that the album’s ballad track has arrived. This is no different with “Wasted Days”, though Mortal Sin has provided a song with a mid‑tempo groove and emotive vocal delivery that doesn't descend to the depths of the power ballad. The margins that draw this away from the central musical theme of this album allow it to be heard as a reflective tone rather than a ballad motive. While it mightn’t be my favourite song here, it is listenable and not a travesty.
The bass heavy tones of “From the Gutter to the Grave” mirror the groove-oriented guitars and drums that create the rhythm of the song. The mid-range tempo of the track allows the heavier tone to hold fort, while the breakout drum clubbing leads to the pace increasing through the guitar solo. The mixing of tempo and gravity inducing heavier feel through the song gives this a unique and entertaining sound from start to finish, showcasing there is more to this band than just the everyday metal riffs. Pulling out of this is “Side Effect”, which is short, punchy, and energetic, and injects a burst of adrenaline into the album’s second half. It doesn’t burst out along a typical thrash metal track, but it is one that mirrors the way that genre was heading at the time and creates a solid song out of it. “Blackout” is another great darker and moodier track, with terrific atmosphere inherent as it winds its way through the various moods of the song. The rhythm guitar and bass set itself in concrete from the beginning, creating the solid base of the track that allows Sly to motor along over the top. It is another track here that comes at the very beginning of the groove metal tones that were creeping into metal slowly at the time, and it succeeds in its presence.
“See No Evil” picks up the pace again, bringing together all of the styles the band has drawn together. It is fast and aggressive and is one of the closest to classic thrash on the album. If there is a song on this album that best mirrors what they have released before, then it is this one. The old Mortal Sin has not gone completely. “The Price of Peace” winds its way through themes of war, sacrifice, and political hypocrisy. The lyrics are thoughtful, and the music balances heaviness with melody. Sly again mixes up his vocal range here to provide the colour commentary to the track.
The true title track “Rebellious Youth” is another energetic and pulsing anthem, speaking as you would expect about the themes of this album as a whole: defiance, individuality, and generational tension. It is one of the most upbeat songs on the album, brought to life by the twin guitar solo section and Sly’s high range chanting vocal performance. The album then closes out with “Why?”, an introspective and groove inspired track with a heavier tone and driven vocal. The mid paced tempo and melodic focus draw a sense of finality, ending the album on an excellent note.
It is impossible to ignore the bands that Mortal Sin have utilised in the writing of this album. You can hear the sounds of Metallica, Anthrax, Testament and Death Angel drilled into the song riffs and melodies throughout. There is nothing wrong with that, drawing inspiration from your heroes, and the way Mortal Sin weave around that sound to incorporate it as a part of their own is fun to listen to.
My, wasn’t this an interesting album to purchase and listen to on its release. I had spent almost two years prior to this album being released listening to and probably obsessing over the band’s second album “Face of Despair”, released on the eve of their tour to support Metallica in 1989. And then i saw them live on that tour, and that album (along with And Justice for All) remained on my stereo for months afterwards. I loved that album so much, and when I then got their debut “Mayhemic Destruction” not long after, I loved it just as much. So it is fair to say that the band’s third album had a lot to live up to. What is even more significant is that this album was released on the day of the first night of two c0nsecutve nights supporting Megadeth in Sydney at the Enmore Theatre on their first ever Australian tour. Far out. How do you live up to that?
So I bought this album on that afternoon before I saw them support Megadeth, but couldn’t listen to the album until I got home, AFTER seeing this newly constituted band line up. And I had known about the whole band troubles through various articles in Hot Metal magazine. Anyway, I saw the band both nights in Sydney before I got to listen to the album. And the new line up with their new singer... left me underwhelmed live. But you know, I had probably overhyped the whole situation given the amazing experience seeing the more-or-less original line up of the band supporting Metallica where they were awesome. And I was very hyped to see Megadeth for the first time. So although my memory is that they were only average, perhaps that memory is slightly false.
The ALBUM on the other hand!... ummm... it was also underwhelming on first listens. I definitely wanted so much more than I got on those first listens. I wanted the full thrash experience that the first albums offered. And Sly’s vocals were not Mat Maurer. So I had the album on for awhile, but with the live experience behind me, it fell out of rotation. The first impression was not exceptional.
Eventually though, when I came back to it, I took to it. The band was on their first hiatus then, and I was curious as to whether or not they would ever get back together. And I gravitated back to this album without any preconceived notions. And what I found was surprisingly engaging. It probably helped that this era of music by then had rolled by, and it was actually nice to hear this late 80’s early 90’s form of thrash metal again. Comforting, probably. And as I have mentioned, you can hear their heroes in the music, and I enjoyed that. Steve Sly may have gone by then, but this time around I enjoyed what he has put down as vocals on the album, and the music was surprisingly good. And my enjoyment of this album came from that time rather than its initial release.
This album doesn’t come out often, but in reviewing it again for this podcast episode, I have rediscovered what I enjoyed about it all over again. This may never be an album that is considered a classic, but as much as I at least maligned it on its release – and there is only one person I’ve ever met who truly adores it – I have thoroughly enjoyed listening to this album all over again.
The questions that rose in my head as i thought about this album this week were various. It was 1991. Did the album work? Was it right for the time? My personal view is that, as well as having constant management issues, Mortal Sin suffered the same fate as dozens or hundreds of similar bands at the time. The music world changed, and if you didn’t move in the direction of grunge or follow the course set by Metallica with the black album, then you mostly doomed. Even those bands that DID follow those paths, it didn’t guarantee you would survive. In Mortal Sin’s case, they couldn't take a trick. Their struggles with their management, which then affected their ability to play gigs or even get paid for the ones they did play, meant further tension within the group and between the members of the group. The fact that their sound and genre of music was being overrun by the tsunami of grunge meant that it just wasn’t feasible to continue, which eventually led to the dissolvement of the band.
As of the recording of this episode, Mortal Sin has been resurrected for the fourth time, and are about to head out on tour in Australia once again. For old people like me, it is a trip down nostalgia lane, one I look forward to enjoying. Whether the band revisits any songs from this album, given its estrangement with the rest of the catalogue, remains to be seen. If it does, then no doubt these tracks will remain as strong on stage as they appear here. In a different world, this album would be held in far higher esteem that it is. It’s a shame it isn’t.
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