MORTAL SIN's MAT MAURER Is '95 Percent' Sure There Will Be New Music From Reunited Australian Thrashers

In a new interview with Heavy, 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. Mat said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We've got offers for some festivals for next year, some really big festivals. We had a good time. We didn't kill each other. We enjoyed each other's company. We looked out for each other. Yeah, so we'll definitely keep going. Whether we write new music or not, that's to be discussed, which it's probably 95% that we will. Yeah, we've been so busy that we haven't really had time to sit down and talk about what's next. So once we do these FLOTSAM AND JETSAM shows [in Australia in late September and early October], we'll do that. We'll sit down, maybe around Christmas time, have a bit of a Christmas dinner all together and sort of reflect on what we did and talk about what we can do."

Mat continued: "I think we've got a good enough unit now that the tour in Europe this year was kind of like a bit of a taster. It was a bit of, like, we need to let people know that we're back again. It's gonna take time. So next year, maybe getting on some bigger festivals, hopefully getting back on Wacken [Open Air in Germany], that sort of thing — we've gotta keep raising the profile, like every band. Even though we've got a decent profile to start with, we've gotta start again. A lot of people still don't know that we're back. I've seen a few forums here and there where people still sort of talk in past tense: 'Oh, yeah, MORTAL SIN were really good.' And then someone else might write a comment, 'Oh, they're back, back on the road again, bro.' 'Oh, really? Oh, awesome.' Yeah, so it's still gonna be a lot of hard work, but, yeah, obviously doing this thing with FLOTSAM AND JETSAM, I think, is gonna be really good because even in Australia, there might be sort of thrash fans that are into a lot of the international stuff that maybe the young guys haven't heard MORTAL SIN, never seen MORTAL SIN. So we'll see what happens."

Maurer also talked about the challenge of writing new material which lives up to the fans' expectations. He said: "Look, the same no matter when you bring an album out. It's the same for every single band. You've just gotta hope that you write something that they'll love. And the main part of that is you write what you love. We've just gotta write a MORTAL SIN song, and that's pretty much it. Because all the songs that we've written so far everyone loves, so we've just gotta keep doing it, which, it's hard. From my perspective, writing the lyrics and stuff like that, it's a huge challenge for me. And, yeah, I guess a lot rests on how everyone feels about writing. I mean, it's been 15 years since we wrote an album. Is it gonna be a leap year apart, or is it gonna be a closeness to the last album, or is it gonna be a mix of everything? Who knows, man? We just chuck everything into a pot, mix it up, see what happens."

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.