Re-Release of the EP "No War" of 1987 + the never officially released demos "Street Warrior" and "Break the Rules"

Song 1-3 taken from „No War“ EP
Song 4-6 taken from „Street Warrior“ Demo
Song 7-11 taken from „Break the Rules“ Demo
Song 12 taken from Metal Battle Live Sampler

Biography:
In the early eighties, influenced by Kiss, AC/DC, and Judas Priest Thomas Metzler (17, lead guitar and front man from Mortician) and Roland Konzett (17, rhythm guitar), started to play guitar. Some time in 1983 it turned out to be boring. Playing alone at home and especially playing acoustic.

The next logical step was to get some amplifiers, electric guitars and of course some members to complete a band. It didn’t take long to find Manfred Stemer (17, drums) with already a basic education on his instrument, and finally Siegfried Burtscher (18, lead vocals, stage name Siegfried Burn), and Patrik Lercher (16, bass) who both started from scratch. After one year they were ready to rock.

The first concert took place on the 31st of March1984. Organized by themselves they played the local parish hall, what afterwards brought some feedback because they used the grave crosses from Patrik..s grandparents to lift up the stage setting. Nevertheless 350 metal maniacs banged their head to songs they have never heard before and some of them even entered the stage to scream and rock. Maybe an early form of stage diving. But at that time nobody would catch them. Several gigs in local venues and often on biker festivals in their area followed. In 1985 Thomas and Siegfried Burn had different visions of making songs and therefore Thomas left the band. The other guys stayed with Siegfried and practiced under the name No Mercy. This line-up broke up after hardly a year.

Due to the friendship between Thomas and Patrik they found together again. They continued as a four-piecer with new drummer Rene Bickel and Robert Wilfinger on vocals. In January 1987 they were ready to do their first demo tape, which was recorded in Stuttgart (Germany). It included next to the title track “Street Warrior” also the classic “Sacrifice of Sin”. Despite some attention could be gained with that tape, it was not the big success the guys hoped for. Shortly afterwards singer Robert unexpected left the band.

Maybe due to the fact that Siegfried Burn still lived in the neighborhood still not being a rock star (like he wanted to be ever since) he joined Mortician again. Meanwhile he really got an excellent voice, and the new songs seemed to top the Street Warrior tape. Hence the four guys collected all their money to enter the studio a second time to do a three-track vinyl album called “NO WAR”. NO WAR earned some good reviews in Hard Rock magazines and fanzines (e.g. Desaster) and also led to some successful gigs with LIVING DEATH, MAGNUM and MESSIAH andan interview on MTV's Metal Hammer show in London with the legendary Bailey Brothers. Due to these performances EBONY RECORDS offered MORTICIAN to participate on a metal sampler, which was recorded in England. However, the recording never took place, because Rene, the drummer, had broken his arm, not able to play anything at all. Another hard backlash for Mortician.

Some weeks after that disaster good news came from a national competition in Austria, which was looking for the best ten metal bands in the country. Mortician was invited to play a show in Vienna and “No War” was recorded for the live sampler METAL BATTLE. At the show they had already Alex Grätzner (stage name Rattler) hitting the drums. However, Mortician stayed underground and Siegfried left the band again. Mortician continued with new singer Thomas Cassan (stage name Cassy) who joined the band in early 1989. With Cassy and Alex Mortician got another kick-start and in a few months they had already new songs. Due to the good performance on the Metal Battle Festival the band was engaged to open for SODOM and SEPULTURA in Vienna. The next demo tape was recorded in Vorarlberg. “Break The Rules” was of their liking but couldn’t reach the flair of the No War EP.

After some gigs with the new line up and working together some months, Patrik lost the power somehow,  and Mortician decided to continue without him. Finally in 1990 after unsuccessfully trying to get a new bass player Thomas lost the Mortician spirit and closed the band. That was the real end of MORTICIAN.

In 1991 Thomas co-founded another famous Austrian metal band: ART OF FEAR.

Now in 2009, 20 years after the last show, Thomas and Patrik, who stayed close friends during all the years, start a new era with Mortician. Because not all band members of the eighties had enough motivation to start again, Daniel Khan best known to be the frontman of Art of Fear was hired as singer and with Andreas Peter (Antee) behind the drums the band was finally complete. Now here we have all Mortician songs, completely remastered. Also, Mortician is looking for shows and festivals to perform live again. And of course: Mortician will write new, old-style Mortician songs!

Genre: Heavy Metal
Label: Pure Steel Records
Release Dates: 06.11.2009

Track Listing:
1. No War 6:19
2. Listen to the Priest 3:38
3. Hot Fight 4:26
4. Street Warrior 4:33
5. Rockin' the Night 3:43
6. Sacrifice of Sin 8:36
7. We must get back 5:13
8. Break the Rules 6:17
9. Shout in Heaven 3:31
10. Back in the City 3:47
11. In the Still before the Storm 3:50
12. No War (Live) 6:42