Mortal (electronic/industrial/rock)

A lot of people no doubt think this band is lame, keep moving on.

Mortal was an electronic/industrial tinged rock group active mostly in the early 90's. The "Christian" tag will get a lot of people's attention BUT since "Christian" isn't a genre of music, I left it out. They had some pretty good success with their first two, "Lusis" and "Fathom", and continued progressing from that sound on their following records, which go from kind of a trance/dance influenced record ("Pura), to something similar to the early stuff but with more Beatles influence (the self titled), and then the last one they put out in 2002, "Nu-En-Jin", is this mind blowing electronic/industrial record - no guitars.

I've been having sort of a listening resurgence lately of them. A lot of really intelligent songwriting and lyrics going on. If any of the above sounds appealing to you, check these out:

I only have the first two and the "Intense Live" disc, which is pretty cool. Never heard any of the others because the reviews in HM magazine scared me off.

You didn't mention "Wake". Have you heard that one?

I had a track by these guys on one of those "Hot Metal Summer" compilation tapes... I think it was this one



I thought it was pretty good stuff - kinda reminded me of where Shotgun Messiah went on their Violent New Breed album -- but I never picked up any of their albums.

ah, "Wake". Probably forgot about it cause I just really don't like it too much...but there are some good songs.. 'Moons and Suns'.....

I wouldn't steer away from the others unless you only like the hardest hardest stuff they have like 'Tuesday Assassin', otherwise it's similar, just a little more diverse..... 'Nu En Jin' as I mentioned is just stellar...

Did you ever get into Fold Zandura, the alternative grungy side project from the same guys?

I have Fathom as of now, but don't listen to it very much. I like the track "Godspeed quite a bit. I had Wake, PURA, and Lusis as well back in the day, along with Circle of Dust and Argyle Park (Who remain my favorite industrial band). Of the three that I had, I listened to Wake the most.

A lot of the FoldZan stuff I dislike, but I really dig 'King Planet':



That EP is sort of like this song but also some trip hop and the ever present Beatles influence....

I like the first two with the heavier sound, they lost me after that. Fathom reminds me of Generation.

I like Mortal quite a bit. I think Lusis might be my favorite. I love the live disc though, especially the covers: Thy Word and One Tree Hill. I always really enjoyed Wake as well, particularly Moons and Suns and Speed of Sound, as well as that weird last song.

I preferred Fold Zandura....that whole dreamy pop thing was up my alley.

I have all of their cd's except "Nu-En-Jin". My faves are Wake, their most heavy metal-ish and least techno-industrial; and Fathom, their most ambitious masterpiece.

Allways liked the first 2 (Fathom being my favorite). Did not like wake, and never really gave the others a chance.....I may have to dig them up.

I remember Mortal fondly. Never owned their albums, though. They were good for what they are, not entirely my cup of tea now but more so back in the day.

One of my hangouts was the local Christian book store, which sounds lame but hey they were the only place where you could listen to music before you bought it. Anyway Mortal was a frequent listen. I'd get caught in a trance with it. Good shit.