Jayson Sherlock (born 1970) is a

Christian metal Christian metal, also known as white metal, Jesus metal or heavenly metal, is heavy metal music distinguished by its Christian themed song lyrics and the dedication of the band members to Christianity. Christian metal is typically performed by ...

musician from Australia. He began his career in the Australian death metal band Mortification, which was considered to be a major pioneer in the genre. Sherlock was the founder of the one-man project

unblack metal Unblack metal (also known as Christian black metal) is a religious philosophy and subgenre within black metal, inheriting several characteristics of it, such as the melody, the lyrics and the aesthetics ( corpse paint), whose artists either dir ...

band Horde, in which he played every instrument. He has also been in other bands such as Paramaecium,

inExordium Paramaecium (sometimes typeset as Paramæcium) was an Australian death/doom metal band formed in 1991. There is use of instrumentation like flutes, cellos and violins on some albums. Paramaecium is one of the few doom metal bands that focus ...

Altera Enigma Altera Enigma is a Christian metal band formed by Melbourne, Australia-based Jason De Ron, the former guitarist and front man of Paramaecium, and Jakarta, Indonesia native Jefray Arwadi, former guitarist, vocalist, and front man of Kekal. ...

, and

Soundscape A soundscape is the acoustic environment as perceived by humans, in context. The term was originally coined by Michael Southworth, and popularised by R. Murray Schafer. There is a varied history of the use of soundscape depending on discipline, ...

. During 2012, he was the drummer for

Deliverance ''Deliverance'' is a 1972 American survival thriller film produced and directed by John Boorman, and starring Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, and Ronny Cox, with the latter two making their feature film debuts. The screenplay was adapt ...

. He is currently the drummer for the death metal band Revulsed.

Biography

Style

Sherlock is known for his unique and extremely fast double bass pedal and blast beat technique. He also plays guitar and bass. Sherlock is left-handed.

Mortification

In 1990 Sherlock joined Mortification after Steve Rowe disbanded LightForce, established the new band and released Mortification's debut album ''

Break the Curse ''Break the Curse'' is a demo album by the Australian Christian extreme metal band Mortification. It was released in 1994 as ''Break the Curse 1990''. The album focuses on Mortification's thrash metal style rather than their later death metal. ...

''. Then came the self-titled album '' Mortification''. Mortification changed to a more

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

style in 1992 and subsequently released the groundbreaking album ''

Scrolls of the Megilloth ''Scrolls of the Megilloth'' is the second studio album by Australian Christian extreme metal band Mortification. It was released on 28 August 1992. The band's most famous release, this album is full-on death metal, with the thrash metal roo ...

''. Mortification then released another album titled ''

Post Momentary Affliction ''Post Momentary Affliction'' is the third studio album by Australian Christian extreme metal band Mortification, released in 1993. The album's sound has Mortification returning to their thrash metal roots, but with death metal elements stil ...

'' and the live album ''

Live Planetarium ''Live Planetarium'' is the first live album and fifth release of Australian Christian extreme metal band Mortification, released in 1993. It contains live versions of material from the band's three previously released studio albums, ''Mortif ...

''. During this time Mortification was said to belong to the elite of the death metal movement and Sherlock had a notable role in the band as he wrote some of the more well-known songs such as "Terminate Damnation". ''Scrolls'' is widely noted as a piece of Australian metal history and a classic of the genre. After releasing these albums, Sherlock left Mortification in 1993 to join the

doom metal Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' ...

band Paramaecium.

Paramaecium

In 1993 Paramaecium released their debut album ''

Exhumed of the Earth ''Exhumed of the Earth'' is the debut album by Paramaecium. It was released in 1993. ''Exhumed of the Earth'' is considered to be one of the landmarks of both doom metal and Christian metal movements. Recording history ''Exhumed of the Earth'' ...

'', which was considered to be one of the greatest Christian doom metal albums of the time. After the success of its previous album, the band proceeded to release the

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

Within the Ancient Forest Paramaecium (sometimes typeset as Paramæcium) was an Australian death/doom metal band formed in 1991. There is use of instrumentation like flutes, cellos and violins on some albums. Paramaecium is one of the few doom metal bands that focus ...

'', based on a book written by the band's vocalist Andrew Tompkins. According to Doom-metal.com, Paramaecium "are the only Christian death doom band that made it to the top of the genre." After the success of Paramaecium, Sherlock left the band in 1996.

Horde

After a year of being a part of Paramaecium, Sherlock formed the one-man band Horde. He released the album ''

Hellig Usvart ''Hellig Usvart'' is the debut studio album by Australian unblack metal band Horde, released on Nuclear Blast Records in 1994. Upon its release, the album created a controversy among many black metal fans; death threats were sent to Nuclear Blas ...

'' under the pseudonym "Anonymous" on

Nuclear Blast Records Nuclear Blast is a record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label mov ...

in 1994, followed by a re-release on Rowe Productions. The title "Hellig Usvart" is Norwegian, a fact which at first led many to believe that Horde originated in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, a theory backed up by the grim production quality on the album, considered to be a trademark of Norwegian black metal.Morrow, Matt
Horde – Hellig Usvart
The Whipping Post. Retrieved 26 November 2007 Upon the initial release of ''Hellig Usvart'', a publicity campaign was launched throughout the

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with t ...

community, revolving around Sherlock being credited as "Anonymous", a play on

Euronymous Øystein Aarseth (; 22 March 1968 – 10 August 1993), better known by his stage name Euronymous, was a Norwegian musician and a founder of and central figure in the early Norwegian black metal scene. He was a co-founder and guitarist of the N ...

. Death-threats were sent to Mark Staiger at Nuclear Blast to reveal the identity of the anonymous musician who had created the album; later the musician was revealed to be Jayson Sherlock.Erasmus
Interview with Horde
Cached at Unblac.de. Retrieved 26 November 2007 ''Hellig Usvart'' pioneered the previously unheard-of genre of "

Christian black metal Unblack metal (also known as Christian black metal) is a religious philosophy and subgenre within black metal, inheriting several characteristics of it, such as the melody, the lyrics and the aesthetics (corpse paint), whose artists either direc ...

" (sometimes referred to as "Holy UnBlack Metal" as Sherlock called his music). Since its release, bands such as Dark Endless (also a black metal band with one anonymous member),

Crimson Moonlight Crimson Moonlight is a Swedish unblack metal band. The band was formed in the summer of 1997 with the mere intention of recording a primitive old school black metal demo and playing one show before breaking up. However, the breakup never happe ...

and Antestor have emerged as proponents of Christian black metal.

Revulsed

In 2010 Jayson and Sheldon D'Costa left inExordium to form Revulsed, a faster and more technical and extreme death metal band based in Melbourne. In 2014 they acquired the services of Konni from Defeated Sanity and Despondency to perform the vocals for the debut album '' Infernal Atrocity'' released through Permeated Records on 31 October 2015. In 2017, Revulsed released ''Live Atrocity - The Inception of Sufferance'', through Brutal Mind, It featured Damien Miriklis on vocals and Mark Smith on bass guitar.

Other projects

Sherlock is also involved in a number of other bands. In 2000 he joined the band Soundscape and in 2002 he joined the band Where Shadows Lie.Jayson on the Soundscape website
In 2006 he rejoined the

band Paramaecium and appeared at the '06 Black Stump festival. In 2007 they went to the NordicFest in Oslo, Norway which was to be Paramaecium's final show before the creation of InExordium by the remaining members of the band. Sherlock is also part of a

progressive metal Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad :Fusion music genres, fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven s ...

band called

, in which

Jason De Ron Jason De Ron (born 1973) is a musician from Melbourne, Australia, most notable for being the former guitarist for the death/doom band Paramaecium and co founder and guitarist of the avant garde/progressive metal band Altera Enigma. Biograp ...

(Paramaecium, InExordium) is also involved. In 2009 Jayson recorded as guest drummer for Fearscape's ''Nightmare Hymn'' (to be released mid-2009 on

Bombworks Records Bombworks Records is a record label from McKinney, Texas, that formed in January 2004. The label would sign several bands, including Seventh Angel, A Hill to Die Upon, Grave Declaration and Crimson Thorn. The label started careers for bands suc ...

). In mid-2009, Jayson was asked to fill in for Teramaze drummer Julian Percy as Julian was unable to fulfill commitments due to a chronic heart condition. Jayson has since fulfilled his commitments with the band, and they now have a permanent drummer. Jayson joined the band

to record the album ''Hear What I Say!''.

Digital graphic artist

Sherlock was known to illustrate the cover art for most of his bands' albums. He created the artwork for Mortification's albums during 1990–1993 and designed a number of their T-shirts. These works are characterised by their underground approach, which is typical for death metal music. He also created artwork for Paramaecium's debut, which showcases detailed calligraphy artwork, and Horde's ''Hellig Usvart'', among others. Eventually Sherlock became a professional digital graphic artist.

Bands

Current * Revulsed – drums (2010–present) Former * Lightforce – drums (1990) * Mortification – drums (1990–1993) * Paramaecium – drums (1993–1996) * Beheadoth – drums, vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards (1994) * Horde – vocals, drums (1994, 2006, 2012), guitars, bass, keyboards (1994) *

– drums (2004–2006) * Where Shadows Lie – drums (2002–2004) * Generator – drums * Soundscape – drums (1999–2007) *

– drums (2012–2014)

Discography

Mortification * ''

'' – (1990) * '' Mortification'' – (1991) * ''

'' – (1992) * ''

'' – (1993) * ''

'' – (1993) * '' The Best of Five Years'' – (1995) * '' Grind Planets'' DVD – (2005) * ''

'' album and DVD – (2006) * ''Ancient Prophecy/Overseer'' EP – (2017) Paramaecium * ''

'' – (1993) * ''

'' – (1996) * ''Repentance'' (EP) – (1997) Horde * ''

'' – (1994) * '' Alive in Oslo'' album and DVD – (2007) Soundscape * ''Soundscape'' – (2007) inExordium * ''inExordium'' – (2008) Fearscape * ''Nightmare Hymn'' – (2009) Altera Enigma * ''Angular Momentum'' – (Not Released) Ursula * ''Awakening'' – (2012) Revulsed * '' Infernal Atrocity'' – (2015) * ''Live Atrocity – The Inception of Suffering'' – (2017) Deliverance * ''Hear What I Say!'' – (2013)

References

External links

Jayson Sherlock
at MySpace
Jayson Sherlock
at inexordium.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Sherlock, Jayson 1969 births Australian performers of Christian music Living people Australian heavy metal bass guitarists Australian heavy metal singers Australian Christians Australian heavy metal drummers Christian metal musicians Mortification (band) members Paramaecium members Altera Enigma members