Austria's Mortician were formed in the mid-eighties and proceeded to play around Europe and release demos of fairly dull NWOBHM-inspired Heavy Metal for several years before packing it up in the early 90s. Pure Steel has brought together those demos, an EP, and a live track for a new Mortician release entitled No War & More. And what a mess. I'm not sure who over at Pure Steel thought releasing this stuff would be a good idea, but I sure wouldn't be highlighting it on my performance review.

The biggest problem I hear on No War & More is that the three singers featured (Seigfried Burtscher on tracks 1-3 and 12, Robert Wilfinger on tracks 4-6 and Thomas Cassan on tracks 7-11) range from barely passable (Burtscher) to horrible (Cassan). Burtscher sounds no better than many of the lower-tier NWOBHM singers, although he can actually sing, unlike Cassan, who clearly has a tin ear. The recycled NWOBHM riffs throughout No War & More were all done by a hundred other bands, a hundred times better. The production is appropriate for the time (i.e. raw) but the mix is one of the worst I've ever heard on a release that has been "re-mastered." This is especially true of the tracks from the Street Warrior demo, "Street Warrior," "Rockin' the Night" and "Sacrifice of Sin." In places, the bass drum is so far up front, it not only drowns out all the other instruments, but it made my speakers buzz even on low volume.

Don't waste your time or your money. There are certainly some entertaining moments, but, for the most part, this is a tedious listen. Instead, go out and grab reissues of Jaguar, Blitzkrieg, Weapon or any of the bands on the New Wave of British Heavy Metal '79 Revisited compilation.