Mortal Decay

by Bradley Torreano
 
Mortal Decay first started in 1991 when drummer Anthony Ipri, guitarist John Hartman, and vocalist John Paoline first started to jam on death metal together. They drafted in guitarist Anthony Divigenze and bassist Brandon Stockl for their Dawn of Misery demos. Divigenze was soon replaced by Brian Valenti and the band recorded the Grisly Aftermath demo with this lineup. He soon left the band and took Stockl with him, so the band regrouped with bassist Ron Steinhauer and guitarist Joe Gordon and recorded the Brutalizing Creations demo. Although their demos were well-received, their revolving lineup proved to be a problem again when Paoline left the group and Kelly Izquierdo took his place. They finally recorded a full-length album, Sickening Erotic Fanaticism, in the spring of 1997 and by summer it was released. They continued to perform into the next year, but Izquierdo left the group that summer and Paoline came back for the new sessions. Their first three demos were released as Gathering of Human Artifacts in the fall of 1999, while the group shopped themselves to labels and welcomed back Izquierdo. They toured the country for the first time, signed a deal with Unique Leader Records, and they finally entered the studio again to record a follow-up. Paoline and Izquierdo again played &musical vocalists& for the recording, but the resulting album, Forensic, benefited from his return. The band lost him again soon after and have been relatively quiet during their search for a new, permanent vocalist.