Mortal was a Christian industrial/

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

band fronted by Jerome Fontamillas and Jyro Xhan. Both members went on to found the

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

group Fold Zandura, and for a time were members of both bands simultaneously. The band is known for its lyrical intelligence, incorporating advanced

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

with what has been billed as "Industrial Praise and Worship." According to '' CCM Magazine'' "Mortal has had a much greater influence... on industrial music than its modest output would suggest."

Background

Led by the duo Jerome Fontamillas and Jyro Xhan, Mortal was one of the first Christian bands to play industrial metal. While not actually the first to do so, Mortal enjoyed significant success, and, along with other early contemporaries such as Circle of Dust and Argyle Park, played a notable role in paving the way for future Christian industrial and industrial metal bands. The group began in 1988 as Mortal Wish, and produced a six-song demo with additional members Ray Tongpo and Wilson Peralta. They shortened their name, signed a record deal with Intense Records and released their first album '' Lusis'' in 1992, produced by Terry Scott Taylor and Allan Aguirre of Scaterd Few. It was well received by the critics, with '' CCM Magazine'' dubbing ''Lusis'' the "strongest debut project to enter the Christian market in years." The second album '' Fathom'' (1993) was Mortal's most guitar-driven, and became one of the band's most popular releases. The song ”Rift” was rearranged later and a music video was shot for it in 1994. The video dealt with the horrors of child abuse. Mortal later experimented with a live band, and a

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock Music genre, genre and subculture that emerged during the in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington, particularly in Seattle and Music of Olympia, Washington, O ...

sound on 1994's '' Wake'', as well as with a

-based meditational sound on their follow-up, '' Pura''. During this time, the band became mired in legal issues involving their label, leading to on-again, off-again attempts to retire the name Mortal. As Jyro would report to '' True Tunes News'' in 1994: "I have peace with the fact that Mortal will permanently quit... There are legal things happening with our label that will end Mortal as a name." The duo formed Fold Zandura partly to get around these issues, partly to carve out a more alternative rock sound. Fold Zandura released one album and three EPs. The Mortal moniker was revived in order to release a self-titled album on 5 Minute Walk Records in 1996. According to the liner notes, three songs were originally Fold Zandura songs. In 1998, they released a best-of compilation called ''Godspeed''. It featured 13 album songs and two non-album songs. In 2000, Jerome joined Switchfoot as a session musician and later joined them full-time. In 2002 Jyro and Jerome released a Mortal reunion album called '' Nu-En-Jin'' with Tooth & Nail Records, featuring an updated industrial sound, consisting mostly of heavily distorted looping electronics. Lyrically, the songs have a very sci-fi flare, with the liner notes detailing the various fictional alternative universes in which they are supposedly set.

Members

Last Known Lineup * Jerome Fontamillas - Bass, vocals * Jyro Xhan - Guitar, vocals Former *Ed Benrock - Drums (1994–1995), formerly of Lifesavers Underground *Troy Yasuda - Guitar (1994–1996) Live and session * Jeff Bellew ( The Crucified, Stavesacre) - Guitars (1993) * Bryan Gray ( The Blamed, ex- Left Out) - Bass (1993) * Jim Chaffin ( The Crucified, Deliverance, The Blamed) - Drums (1993)

Discography

*1992: '' Lusis'' ( Intense Records, Reviews:
Cross Rhythms
', ''CCM Magazine'') *1993: '' Fathom'' (Intense Records, Review:
Cross Rhythms
') *1993: '' Intense Live Series Vol. 5'' (Intense Records) *1994: '' Wake'' (Intense Records, ''Cross Rhythms'', ''CCM Magazine'') *1995: '' Pura'' (Intense Records, Review:
Cross Rhythms
') *1996: ''Mortal'' ( 5 Minute Walk, Reviews
The Lighthouse
''CCM Magazine'') *1998: ''Godspeed'' ( KMG Records, compilation, Review:
HM Magazine
') *2002: '' Nu-En-Jin'' ( Tooth & Nail Records, Reviews:
Cross Rhythms
',

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

'' HM Magazine'')

Charts

References

External links

Mortal/Fold Zandura discography
including th

the oldest Mortal/Fold Zandura fan site, by John Turpin
The Sock Heaven BitTorrent Tracker
which provides downloads of Mortal's early work as Mortal Wish, plus demo work and a live show, via

BitTorrent BitTorrent is a Protocol (computing), communication protocol for peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P), which enables users to distribute data and electronic files over the Internet in a Decentralised system, decentralized manner. The protocol is d ...