Monday, December 1, 2025

Victims of Mortality

ORIGINS: Penrith, NSW
GENRE: Metal
YEARS ACTIVE: 2002-2005
 
MEMBERS:
  • Russ Heynis - Guitar
  • Darren Wombey - Vocals, Bass
  • Brendon Zureb - Bass
  • John - Drums
  • Jeremy Fernando - Guitar (2002-2003)
  • Andrew - Keyboards (2002)
RELEASES:
  • Demo  
    • 1. Over the Edge
    • 2. Bloody Wrists
    • 3. The Pain That Runs Through
    • 4. My Life
    • 5. Danger Below
    • 6. Better Than Before
    • 7. Chop Suey (System of a Down cover)
    • 8. Enter Sandman (Metallica cover)
    • 9. Sweet Dreams (Marilyn Manson version)
SUMMARY: Victims of Mortality were a Penrith metal band that began under the name 'Wasted'. They played a handful of shows in the area, organising some of their own All Ages gigs, and recording some demo tracks. The band broke up in 2005. 
 
SHOWS: 

ORAL HISTORY:
DARREN: I first got into music when I joined the choir in primary school. My parents never played any instruments so it wasn't until high school that I first started playing bass guitar. That was when I really fell in love with music. I became obsessed with Marilyn Manson and also loved Metallica, Rob Zombie, and Fear Factory.
Darren Wombey (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

RUSS: It started out under the name Wasted with another guitarist, Jeremy, whose brother was the first drummer for another local band, Dyasphere. Jeremy and I had decided we wanted to start a band - I was starting out on guitar and we knew Darren played bass (and he was a good singer too). Jeremy knew John, the drummer, and we got him on board. Later that year we found out Brendon could play bass and he also had a good voice, so he joined. Brendon, Darren and myself all went to St Dom's so that's how we knew each other. 
Russ Heynis (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

DARREN: When I started high school I was put next to Brendon for our homeroom class as our last names started with X and W and were in alphabetical order. We became great friends with similar musical interests. I liked to sing and so did Brendon so we talked about starting a band. We then brought Russell in to play guitar as he was in our friend group. Our friend John, who was a neighbour, then joined to play drums. 
Darren Wombey (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

BRENDON: Three of us had met at school and the other two members were introduced to me when I joined. 
Brendon Zureb (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025


RUSS: We were listening to all kinds of bands really but mostly metal and punk music - some of my favourites back were Metallica, Slayer, Pennywise, Bad Religion, and several of the local bands we used to go and see. We started with a thrash metal sound in-line with early Metallica. As we developed we had a range of influences like alt-metal, goth, and punk, whilst still holding onto that core thrash influence.
Russ Heynis (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

BRENDON: At first we had a keyboard player as well but before we played our first gig Andrew let us know it wasn't working for him and he parted ways with us. We still remained good friends though. Andrews was the only one of us doing any traditional practise with an instructor, I think. The rest of were just winging it and learning what we could from school!
Brendon Zureb (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

RUSS: We played one high school talent show as 'Wasted' and almost played Don Bosco in St Marys. We even had flyers made up for the St Marys show but that fell through. We were going in a different direction musically around that point, in 2003, and so I just became the sole guitarist and we changed the name to 'Victims of Mortality'. I remember sitting with Brendon and Darren and we were all wanting a bit of a change so Brendon came up with the new name. We shifted to a heavier sound with more alt-influences - Marilyn Manson, Korn, Nirvana, System of a Down were all creeping in. Plus my love of '80s metal was really escalating at that time so that influenced my guitar playing.
Russ Heynis (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

BRENDON: 'Wasted' had fizzled out. Jeremy pictured the band going in one direction and the rest of us wanted to take it in another. So we split and decided to make something new.
Brendon Zureb (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025


DARREN: We were very young and still trying to work out what it was like being in a band so it was hard to get anyone to book us for a show. So I decided to start putting on gigs. I started a company called Blackeye Promotions and I started to organise shows with us playing with other, more established bands. One our first gigs was at the Channel Cafe in Penrith. We would play shows with Lucretia, Recoil, Town Hall Steps, ITK, and Handle With Care, just to name a few. 
Darren Wombey (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

RUSS: Some of the first shows we did were mostly at the Channel Cafe in Penrith. We also played the St Mary's Bowling Club - we ended up doing two sets that night. Our families came and my mum started a mosh pit, haha, it was awesome. 
Russ Heynis (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

BRENDON: We got along really well. It felt like a party whenever we got to play together. It also felt great seeing people enjoy our music. We weren't great but I think there wasn't a lot of our sound in the area so people had to make to do, haha. It was also very easy-going in the sense that if anyone had an idea for a song in the band, we'd make it work and throw it into the set.
Brendon Zureb (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

RUSS: We didn't do any official recordings but there was a demo of some tape recordings that we passed around to friends.
Russ Heynis (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025


BRENDON: The band stopped because we had finished school and couldn't find time to get it together with all the changes going on in our lives. We wanted to take it further but life just got in the way. 
Brendon Zureb (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

RUSS: We broke up around mid-2005 due to musical differences. I left on good terms and I believe John did around the same time. I think Darren and Brendon tried a couple of other guys but it folded shortly after.
Russ Heynis (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

BRENDON: We did some live recordings but never a demo. Later I recorded a goth/electronic version of one of the songs I wrote for Victims of Mortality. I did some solo stuff after the band ended and recorded some music for a film that entered Trip Fest, as well as some music for some indie video games that were eventually cancelled. 
Brendon Zureb (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

RELATED BANDS: Hidden Agenda, The Unexpected, Brendon Zureb (solo project), Intentions to Kill, Evolution Zero
at
Labels: , , , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)