MAT MAURER: MORTAL SIN Is Planning To Release Best-Of And Live Albums In 2027 While Working On New Music

In a new interview with Jerry Kurunen of Finland's Rauta, vocalist Mat Maurer of Australian thrash metal pioneers MORTAL SIN spoke about the reunited band's plans for the coming months, after their return to the stage earlier this year, nearly 15 years since their last tour on the 2011 "Thrashfest Classics" European run. MORTAL SIN's 2026 lineup sees original members Maurer and Andy Eftichiou (bass) joined by Nathan Shea (guitar) and Ryan Huthnance (guitar),along with the band's latest addition, Sydney drummer George Delinicolis of LIVEWIRE and BASTARDIZER. regarding the possibility of a new studio album, Mat said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, look, we've kind of loosely discussed it. We're going to do a couple of things early next year. We're gonna do a best-of album, 'cause we've never done a best-of. So we're gonna pick three or four songs off each album, and just to do a vinyl, just to get it out there. We're gonna do [release] the Keep It True [festival] set [which was recorded in April 2026 in Lauda-Königshofen, Germany] — we've got the audio, so we're gonna make a bootleg. And then we've got a desk tape of when we played with METALLICA back in 1989 in Melbourne, which is really good. So we've got a couple of things that [we're] gonna push out there to distract everyone while we sit down and hopefully write some songs."

Mat continued: "If there's something there to keep [the fans] happy, that will let us concentrate on, yeah, hopefully writing. 'Cause writing, man, writing is the hardest thing. And I don't know as a guitarist what it's like to write. I don't know if it just comes naturally to them, but for me, for lyrics, it's, like, 'Fuck.' … Sometimes [ideas come quickly]. But other times, it can take weeks. [It's] not necessarily writer's block. Maybe it's the perfectionist in us. Everybody does things differently. The way we do it is the music comes first. And then I have to sit and listen to that music. I have to live with it. I have to embed it in my brain. What is this music telling me? What's the story? Is it a movie? What is it? What's the color? What's the timbre? All of that's coming into my head, and I'm going, 'I don't know.'"

MORTAL SIN played its first show in more than 14 years on January 31, 2026 at the Froth & Fury festival in Adelaide, Australia.

2026 signifies MORTAL SIN's place in thrash metal history celebrating 40 years of "Mayhemic Destruction", 20 years of "An Absence Of Faith" and 15 years since the release of "Psychology Of Death".

MORTAL SIN completed an Australian tour in March. A couple of more Australian shows took place in May and June before MORTAL SIN returned to Europe in August to make a number of festival appearances, including at Czech Republic's Brutal Assault and Belgium's Alcatraz, as well as play headlining shows in such countries as Poland, Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Finland.

In July 2025, the Australian thrashers dropped a new lyric video for "Mayhemic Destruction", the title track of the debut album they started recording at Sydney's Studio 301 on Friday, July 25, 1986.

MORTAL SIN's latest album, "Psychology Of Death", was released in Europe in November 2011 via NoiseArt Records. The effort included the group's classic debut LP, "Mayhemic Destruction", as a bonus disc in the limited digipak version. The follow-up to 2007's "An Absence Of Faith" was mixed with producer/engineer Darren "jENK" Jenkins and marked the recording debut of guitarist Ryan Huthnance, who replaced Mick Sultana.

MORTAL SIN in 2009 released a live album, "Into The Inferno (Live In Oslo)" , via Riot! Entertainment. The CD, which contained the group's March 2008 performance in Oslo, Norway, was described by the band as "possibly the best live show MORTAL SIN have ever had recorded."

Once hailed as the next METALLICA, MORTAL SIN have become legends in their home country Australia, having been inducted into the Kerrang! Heavy Metal Hall Of Fame in 2005 and being the only Australian band to have played with the big five of thrash — METALLICA, SLAYER, ANTHRAX, MEGADETH and TESTAMENT — on tours in Australia and overseas.