LIGHTFORCE - 1986 TO 1989-2003 / DISCOGRAPHY AND BIOGRAPHY

THIS COMPILATION CONTAIN(17-TRACKS)
1-MISTYCAL THIEVE
2-CROSSFIRE
3-CITY STREETS
4-METAL MISSIONARY
5-CHILDREN OF SORROW
6-SEARCHING
7-FAST LANE
8-BABYLON
9-CHOOSE TO WIN
10-EVIL DESIRES
11-REIGNING WITH THE KING
12-EYES OF DESTROCTION
13-I WON'T COMFORM
14-THE DAY IS NEAR
15-BATTLEZONE
16-12 MEN
17-SLAY THE ENEMY
LIGHTFORCE-BEST OF LIGHTFORCE-1994
















THIS BEST ALBUM CONTAIN(11-TRACKS)
1-BABYLON
2-EYES OF DESTROCTION
3-ATOMIC DECAY(Live)
4-SEARCHING
5-I WON'T COMFORM
6-EPIDEMIC OF INJUSTICE(Live)
7-METAL MISSIONARY
8-CHOOSE TO WIN
9-CITY STREETS
10-BACK TO BASICS(Live)
11-MYSTICAL THIEVE
LIGHTFORCE-MYSTICAL THIEVE-1989
















THIS ALBUM CONTAIN(8-TRACKS)
1-MYSTICAL THIEVE
2-CROSSFIRE
3-CITY STREETS
4-METAL MISSIONARY
5-CHILDREN OF SORROW
6-SEARCHING
7-FASTLANE
8-BABYLON
CREDITS:Line-up:
Steve Johnson - Vocals
Murray Adams - Guitar
Steve Rowe - Bass
Errol Willemburg - Drums
LIGHTFORCE-BREAK THE CURSE-1990
















THIS DEMO CONTAIN(6-TRACKS)
1-JOURNEY OF RECOCILIATION
2-BLOOD SACRIFICE
3-BRUTAL WARFARE
4-ILLUSION OF LIFE
5-BREAK THE CURSE
6-IMPULSATION
LIGHTFORCE-BATTLEZONE DEMO ON 1987
1-CHOSE TO WIN(From The Demo On 1987)
2-EVIL DESIRES(From The Demo on 1987)
3-REIGNING WITH THE KING(From The Demo On 1987)
4-EYES OF DESTROCTION(From The Demo On 1987)
5-I WON'T COMFORM(From The Demo ON 1987)
6-THE DAY IS NEAR(From The Demo On 1987)
7-BATTLEZONE(From The Demo On 1987)
CREDIT:Line-up:
Steve Johnson - Vocals
Cameron Hall - Guitar
Steve Rowe - Bass
Errol Willemburg - Drums
LIGHTFORCE-LIGHTFORCE-1987(DEMO)
















THIS DEMO CONTAIN(5-TRACKS)
1-RUN FROM THE DARKNESS
2-THE CRUNCH
3-COME WITH US
4-FISHERS OF MEN
5-PICTURES
LIGHTFORCE-BLUE DEMO On 1986
1-YOU'RE SO KIND(From The Demo On 1986)
2-FISHERS OF MEN(From The Demo On 1986)
3-PICTURES(From The Demo On 1986)
4-COME WITH US(From The Demo On 1986)
5-BALLAD ON THE BEASH(From The Demo On 1986)
6-I FELT YOUR LOVE(From The Demo On 1986)





















Note From All The Demos
Note From The Demo Lightforce- Blue Demo Released On 1986:
This is the first recording of Steve Rowe and Lightforce. There were only 30 of these cassettes ever printed and sold in Australia. This demo was recorded and Released in mid 1986.

Note From The Demo Lightforce-Lightforce On 1987:
Rare cassette demo with 5 songs. There were only 50 of these ever made and sold in Australia. Even though the Lightforce CD 1986-1989 lists this demo as having been released in 1986, Steve Rowe personally told me that this demo was released in January of 1987.

Note From The Demo Lightforce-Battlezone-1987:
Lightforce (Pre-Mortification)'s first album, released in 1987. No, it's not death metal like Mortification, but rather is like power metal pretty much, with occasional punk influences.

Note From The Demo Lightforce-Break The curse On 1990:
This is the original "Break the Curse" and the demo that got them signed to Intense Records. They changed their name to Mortification soon after to fit the new style of metal they were playing. "Break the Curse" was later re-released on CD through Nuclear Blast with more tracks and in a different order. The original cassette is pressed on black plastic.

Note From The Collection-Lightforce-From 1986 TO 1989:
This contains the re-release of Battlezone and Mystical Thieves, as well as 2 songs off the angel rocker demo. The song 'Fastlane' appeared on both releases, so you only get the newer version on Mystical Thieves. Also, the two songs off the Angel Rocker demo have been re-named. '12 Men' is actually 'Fishers Of Men' and 'Slay The Enemy' is actually 'Come With Us'.

BIOGRAPHY:
Born in January 1965 it didn't take very long for Steve Rowe to begin his love affair with heavy metal music. Thanks to older brother Scott by the age of 8 Steve was introduced to heavy music by bands like AC DC, Deep Purple, Status Quo & Slade. By age 15 Steve's favourite bands were Motorhead, Iron Maiden & Judas Priest. Brought up in a Christian home, strong Christian values were instilled in Steve and he became disappointed that his favourite music seemed so focused on themes that cut agains his Faith. Between 1980 and 1983 Steve felt that he didn't fit in with the church kids so he spent his spare time partying and listening to metal music with his heavy metal friends. In late 1983 Steve bought his first bass guitar and started styling his playing on Lemmy from Motorhead, Joey De Maio from Manowar & Steve Harris from Iron Maiden. A youth leader from the Baptist Church that Steve had grown up in, showed up at Steve's house one night to see if he wanted to come back to the church youth group and presented him with a Resurrection Band album. This was Steve's first exposure to Christian Metal Music, the album changed Steve's life and was the stepping-stone back into the church. Seeing how much Heavy Metal Music with a Christian message had helped him, Steve vowed to form a Christian metal band that would change the world. Initially he formed a band with new friends back at the Baptist Church, but it soon became evident that finding people with the same vision was not easy. The first band was called Red Cross, which changed to Axis when the pastor told Steve that it was blasphemous to use the word cross in a band name? Interestingly tw of the biggest Christian metal bands to soon arrive on the scene were Barren Cross and Whitecross. Steve's early bands were very garage level, so Steve and drummer Rohan McDowell formed a new band called King's Image with two females, this band lasted just one concert. Not discouraged, and convinced that girls could cut it in metal Steve started Lightforce in 1985 with Rohan on drums, guitarist Chris Miller & singer Phadrah Hirschfield. This lineup recorded the self titled Lightforce demo in 1986 and again lasted one show. Disillusioned with the Church he was attending, Steve joined the radical Harvest Christian Centre, which had a huge outreach to fringe groups like metal heads & punks. Dave and Rosanna Palmer from Rosanna's Raiders were pastors in the Church and Steve finally found a home for his Christian metal vision. The entire band was reformed with real metal fans with the same vision as Steve, Cameron Hall on guitar, Errol Willemburg on drums and Steve Johnson on vocals. Strongly influenced by early 80's Iron Maiden and Judas Priest & Christian bands Barren Cross and Bloodgood, Lightforce set off on Steve true metal journey in early 1987. After winning the Melbourne Heavy Metal battle of the bands competition against five mainstream acts, Lightforce were immediately accepted into the Australian metal scene and were really good news to a lot of metal fans in Oz. After recording Battlezone the boys toured constantly around Australia. In 1988 Murray Adams replaced Cameron Hall on guitar and the band recorded Mystical Thieves and signed with US label Pure Metal Records which was already the home of Rosanna's Raiders. Mystical Thieves went on to sell 13,000 units and the boys toured constantly in support of the ground breaking release. Scoring support tours with Stryper, Whitecross and Leviticus, Lightforce had established themselves as Australia's contribution to the Christian metal revolution gaining strength around the globe. Just when all seemed set for Lightforce to conquer the world Steve Johnson and Murray Adams announced that they had lost the vision and were leaving the band, a massive blow to years of hard work. Unmoved Steve spoke with drummer Errol & manager Alan Thomas about forming a more extreme thrash metal oriented Lightforce with him handling vocal duties as well as playing bass, a power trio similar to Motorhead and German thrash band Sodom. Steve was also inspired in this direction by US Christian thrash/death metal band Vengeance Rising. Errol and Alan couldn't see the plan working and dropped the ball also. Unperturbed Steve regrouped with Cameron Hall and the amazingly talented Jayson Sherlock on drums. Break The Curse was recorded in mid 1990 and the rest is history as Mortification was born, the Lightforce tag no longer suiting the bands new extreme sound. In early 1991 Vengeance Rising vocalist Roger Martinez came to Australia to produce the self titled Mortification album. Through many line up changes throughout the 90's the Mortification name became well established around the world. Even leukaemia did not stop Steve's determination to reach the four corners of the world with Christian Heavy Metal Music. In 2001 Mortification conquered the world touring Australia, South Africa, Europe, The USA, Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Brazil. Mortification is Australia's most successful metal act and Steve's vision continues as strong as ever despite setbacks that would destroy the strongest of spirits. Check out Mortification but in the meantime kick back and enjoy the sounds of where it all began."While Mortification entered the scene as more of a thrash band that turned to death and grindcore, Lightforce was more of the power metal variety (think Iron Maiden and Judas Priest musically). So those Mortification fans that are open to many other genres, you may dig this mid-80's metal band... As for the material here, the first eight songs are from their last release, Mystical Thieves. The next seven songs are from their Battlezone album. And the final 2 songs are from the self-titled Lightforce demo... Overall, it was cool to hear this slice of metal history." -The Whipping Post"These guys eventually turned into Mortification. Lightforce were Iron Maiden wanna-bes - BIG TIME. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing. Lots of metal bands have made careers off this style... This is the first time that Battlezone has been released on CD. As with Mystical Thieves, the Battlezone tracks are of the same Iron Maiden/Manowar inspired heavy metal. The booklet includes photos, a discography and a biography written by current Mortification guitarist Mick Jelinic.",When the first flood of "white metal" hit the UK in the late 80s amongst all the American bands like Saint, Messiah Prophet and Bride were an Australian band, Light Force, with their 'Mystical Thieves' album. This compilation contains the cream of both that album and their earlier 'Battlezone' release as well as live cuts that were intended for their third album 'Epidemic Of Injustice', which was never released as the band split due to "musical differences", to quickly re-emerge as death dealers Mortification. It has to be said that Light Force had a very different sound to Mortification. This is solid crash chord based power metal full of the revelation imagery that was the lyrical banquet of bands in those early days. Tight, choppy riffs, plenty of overdrive, pounding rhythms that we all used to headbang to, with Steve Johnson's powerful voice carrying it all along nicely thank you very much. 'Best Of...' is an interesting look at the development of both Light Force and Mortification and, considering much of it has been previously unavailable in Britain, a pretty good buy with over an hour of music(http://www.holymetalrob.com/)