Stephen Andrew Rowe[3] (born 19 January 1965) is an Australian musician who is the founder, vocalist and bass guitarist of the Christian death metal band Mortification, which is considered to be a pioneer in the genre.
Because Steve grew up in a Baptist home with strong Christian values he became disappointed that the music he enjoyed appeared to be so focused on themes that cut against his faith.
In 1980 he began to feel as if he did not fit in with the people he knew at church and started spending his spare time partying with his heavy metal friends.
It was while he was attempting to start this band that Steve became unhappy with the Church he was attending, and as a result, he left and joined the Harvest Christian Centre, which had engaged in outreach to groups like metalheads and punks.
Steve spoke with the remaining members about forming a more extreme thrash metal oriented LightForce with him handling vocal duties as well as playing bass.
Despite doctors giving him only hours to live on several occasions and a seemingly failed bone marrow transplant, Steve managed to make a full recovery.
Steve is also the owner and head of the Rowe Productions record label and has performed guest vocals on a song on Microscopic View of a Telescopic Realm by Tourniquet.