If you don't like Mortification stop reading this now. Ok now that everyone is still reading this I can go on with the review of the definitive Mortification Video.
The first nineteen minutes of EnVidion are a full video of the song EnVision EvAngelene. This is a nicely done video and includes some great shots of the band along with a full cast acting out the drama that is the life, death, and resurrection from a view point you've probably not considered before...the Angels. This is pretty much sensory overload, it is artistic and visually stunning. It's awesome to see this portrayal of the Angels wanting to go to the service of Jesus and rescue Him, and pleading with God to allow them to do so. Then seeing their love overflow upon His resurrection. There are a couple of surprise scenes I won't give away here, but if you e-mail me I'll let you in on them.
The next 40+ minutes of EnVidion consists of Steve Rowe covering the history of Mortification. He takes us step by step through the years and fills this time with tons of live shots, and several videos.
The video line up goes like this:
Norther Storm
Peace In The Galaxy
Monks Of The High Lord
Noah Was A Knower
Until The End (1991 Grindcore Assault)
Primitive Rhythm Machine (Live)
Mephibosheth (Live)
The two live videos come from the same show that the recent Live Without Fear EP was recorded at, and the beginning of Primitive Rhythm Machine includes that part where Steve gets the entire crowd screaming "Heyyyyy Eeeeeeohhh" and all that weird stuff. It's pretty darn cool. Also the videos to Noah Was A Knower and Peace In the Galaxy were not shot live, but they were live footage videos. So they have the studio production sound dubbed over top of live footage.
Having been such a huge Mortification fan, and not having seen them perform live, this was a great thing to get my hands on.
My favorite of the produced videos would have to be Monks Of The High Lord where they really did a lot to give it a dark scary feel to the video. Runner up would certainly be Norther Storm, I really dig this song and they filmed it in this old building, and the feel of this vid is just right. What's interesting is during the video to Norther Storm you can see that Lincoln is playing George Ochoa's old guitar.
(So now you want to know how I know it's George's old guitar right? Now I saw Deliverance when they were in support of their first album (The Victory Tour) just after George had joined the band, and his guitar was really cool looking, very unique, so I know it was his. See it's painted like the sheet metal of an old bomber plane with bright red 777 on the upper portion and bullet holes shot into the body. What made this so unique is the bullet holes were drilled right through the body so you could see it had pierced the plane.)
Also the Until The End video is a lot of fun to watch because it's from the very first Mortification album that was not released in the US for so long and it's total Grindcore, and it's just a blast to see the young Steve Rowe slamming this song out.
In addition, as I said before, there are tons upon tons of misc. clips thrown in here and there during the Steve Rowe talks, and this stuff is just great stuff to check out.
What more can you ask for? Well how about a video to the song Acute Obliteration by Rowe Productions artist Metanoia? Yeah you could ask for that, and it gets delivered on EnVidion. Man this song is so heavy, if you've never heard Metanoia or have not heard this song (which appeared on the Hard & Heavy From Down Under Comp.) you are just missing out on some fine Death/Grind and that's all there is to it.
The last little surprise is a video by Neil Johnson who is the man behind the cyber-thrash project Screams Of Chaos.
I found my copy in a Christian bookstore that apparently tried to get into extreme music, but all they did was order some CDs place them sideways on the bottom shelf and wondered why they didn't sell. Somehow they got a copy of EnVidion, and I literally had to wipe the dust off the cellophane of this gem. They had the price tag of $15.00 on it, and let me tell you it's been some of the best $15.00 I've spent in the Christian music industry. Through Rowe Productions it's going to cost you $23.00 so I suggest looking for it a bit before going that route, but to defend that price, it costs a bundle to ship from Australia to the States.
I think this is a video for absolutely everyone who reads Dead. I've watched it countless times, and have yet to get bored with any of it. So why then does it only have a rating of 9.5? Well I know not everyone likes to watch videos. So if you don't like to watch videos stay away. I think you will enjoy it as much as I have, just to get to see Steve Rowe and hear him taking you through the history of the premier Christian metal band.
Other coverage for this album
Critical Mass #2Reviewed by Tom EdmondsonWere it not blasphemous I would refer to Mortification as gods. So many good bands have come and gone so quickly (e.g., Saint, Seventh Angel) that we hardly had time to appreciate them before they were gone. Also, other great bands have endured a little longer only to fizzle (e.g., Deliverance, Sacrament, Believer, etc.). It's a dog-eat-dog world. Many bands have not had the endurance to survive.…More from Mortification
1996EnVision EvAngelene
1993Live Planetarium
1992Scrolls of the Megilloth
1994Grind Planets (Video)
1990Break The Curse 1990
1998Triumph Of Mercy
