Lightforce is the power metal band that eventually became Mortification.

Lightforce-Mystical Thieves (Pure Metal)

1. "Mystical Thieves" (8:05)
2. "Crossfire" (4:15)
3. "City Streets" (4:35)
4. "Metal Missionary" (5:26)
5. "Children of Sorrow" (3:54)
6. "Searching" (5:30)
7. "Fastlane" (3:52)
8. "Babylon" (7:00)

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. The thing about Lightforce is that I could never get into their vocalist. I held onto this disc anyhow, and still gave it a spin every so often. Now I kind of like it, but it is far from a frequent player. This disc is LONG out of print. My copy is autographed by bassist Steve Rowe.

Lightforce-The Best of Lightforce-Mortification's Beginnings (Rowe)

1. "Babylon" (7:01)
2. "Eyes of Destruction" (5:37)
3. "Atomic Decay -live (6:01)
4. "Searching" (5:31)
5. "I Won't Conform" (2:41)
6. "Epidemic of Injustice" -live (5:48)
7. "Metal Missionary" (5:26)
8. "Choose to Win" (4:33)
9. "City Streets" (4:37)
10. "Back to Basics" -live (4:18)
11. "Mystical Thievers" (8:07)

Lightforce is to Mortification what Hellhammer was to Celtic Frost. Nobody realy liked Lightforce, but they were the launchpad for another great band. In 1994 Steve Rowe of Mortification re-released some of Lightforce's material since all of Lightforce's material was out of print. This compilation also includes some unreleased live material that showed where the band was headed musically, had they not disbanded for a short time. To be really honest, despite Mortification being one of my favorite bands, I don't really care for Lightforce (until "Break the Curse" that is.) The music is ok, being a take off of Iron Maiden, but I just do not like the vocals. This is more of a collector's disc than something I would spend any great amount of time listening to.

On tape- Lightforce-Break the Curse (demo tape)

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