Hello everyone and welcome to another big year in Gospel Metal and Rock. I hope all of you guys have checked out the fantastic work that Sherri Ross and Marc Hoffman have done voluntarily on my Mortification and Wonrowe Vision ReverbNation and MySpace sites. The Wonrowe Vision MySpace site looks particularly awesome.
With this great work and the volunteer work of Brent Furletti on my Mortification2010’s YouTube channel the profile of both bands is rising. We are now in the Australian top 40 in the ReverbNation Metal charts with Mortification for “The Destroyer Beholds“! I Praise God for his great servants Sherri, Marc and Brent. What a tremendous effort this past year from these 3 tremendous supporters! ! To view all the sites including the work Sherri and Marc have done on the Mortification and Wonrowe Vision Facebook pages simply click Contacts on www.roweproductions.com.
After months of disappointment and let downs at the hands of others the new Mortification EP with get cleaned up, improved and finally mixed by Mark McCormack in the coming weeks. Lincoln Bowen will be joining Andrew and I in this process adding some of his trademark Guitar brilliance to the 6 songs that already sound sonically excellent in their raw format. Lincoln has not yet confirmed whether or not he will perform once again with Mort but it will certainly be a huge bonus if he does!! I will redo a lot of the Vocals on the songs and Mark who has so masterfully worked with Mort in the past will once again make this new Mort project shine!
Linc is of course already performing with Andrew and I in Wonrowe Vision. Please check out the new songs up on YouTube with us performing Live at the Ten X 10 Fest here just over a month ago. Eventually the entire concert will be up one song at a time by Brent Furletti who also films all my concerts here. So far we have new song “That’s Total Evil” and a remake of 1986 Lightforce song “You’re So Kind Yours And Mine” up. It is great to finally be getting to the point of SINGING the songs rather than just phrasing them. Lincoln being a great all round musician is really taking me to some new levels with his Vocal coaching. A legend of a man is Linc who has always stuck by me in the good times and the not so good. Linc was of course in Mort during my time with cancer and he and Keith were both very patient and extremely supportive. They both still are! Keith of course lives in The US these days with his wife and 3 boys.
A huge thanks also has to go out to Andrew Esnouf who has stayed enthusuastic during another time of patience and waiting. Soon this will all pay off with the pending finish up and release of “Scribe Of The Pentateuch” sometime in the first half of this year. Sometimes we do not understand God’s timing, but with all the delays and now Mark in the Production chair and Linc on Guitar this delay will turn out to be so much for the best! The Album Cover is complete as most of you would have seen and so we are ready for the final process. Not sure at this stage who will be releasing “Scribe Of The Pentateuch”. All in God’s safe hands!
As far as the Mortification/Wonrowe Vision Life Acheivement Program is going, so far with just 19 days to go we have raised $1820. It would be truly great to reach $3000 by the time we get to January 19th when I will celebrate my 47th Birthday and 15 Years out of a Bone Marrow Transplant! It is great to be alive and doing God’s work even though my health battles continue each year. When God opens the doors I seem to always be well enough to perform and having the freedom to practice and write songs means I have been inspired and consequently writing much better tunes. When the time comes for the second Wonrowe Vision Album it will be an exciting recording! Please make sure you all check out “That’s Total Evil” on YouTube for a taste of what is to come. We have also reworked 1986 Lightforce Classic Pictures that will be up on YouTube next. I always knew some of my songs back then were good, but now they have really coming to life!
Talking about Classic Gospel Metal and Rock, I received the 3 re-mixed and re-mastered early Saint Albums for Christmas from my great friend and supporter Brendan Piner. These re-issues out on DigiPak through Retroactive are must haves for all lovers of True Gospel Metal! “Too Late For Living” sounds particularly great! Interesting, I received an iTunes card from my beautiful wife Kate for Christmas – amongst other very generous gifts! So I was on an iTunes search to see what I might purchase. One of my all time ol Gospel Rock favs is “Run From The Darkness” by Daniel Band! I have it on Vinyl but not on CD and so that was 1 of my purchases. Interesting to note that people who had bought “Run From The Darkness” had also purchased “Triumph Of Mercy” by Mort!
I was on Skype the other day with my good friend Doug Van Pelt. Doug informed me that “Triumph Of Mercy” was listed on a Christian Forum as one of the top 10 worst Christian Album covers of all time along with a Lust Control Album cover. Of course Doug has always been a big part of the band Lust Control. So I was reflecting upon how an Album cover that presents such a miracle could be in this list? Not just the miracle of an Angel Visitation that took away all my fear but the main event that took me through triple cancer to survival! The biggest killer of people diagnosed with cancer is NOT cancer, but fear of dying. There are some evil minded people out there who claim to be “christians” who inflict a barrage of negativism upon true Christians who record and perform a life time of Gospel Metal and Rock. For this reason I do not read such forums. But the fact that people are STILL purchasing “Triumph Of Mercy” and it is considered a CLASSIC in Brazil, really the mockers stand for a m
Blessings for 2012!
Steve Rowe.
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