Additional information
Personnel: Simon Forrest (vocals); Frank Healy (guitar, bass guitar); Tony Warburton, Gregg Fellows (guitar); Andy Baker (drums). Audio Mixer: Paul K. Johnson II. Recording information: Rhythm Studios, Leamington Spa (06/1990-08/1990). Photographers: Tony Woolliscroft; Dave Willis. After touring across the U.K. in support of their debut album, the crossover-focused Life Sucks.and then You Die, Cerebral Fix replaced their rhythm section in 1989 (by welcoming former Sacrilege bassist and drummer Frank Healy and Andy Baker, respectively) and proceeded to record a new set of demos to shop around prospective labels. These demos showed that the band was taking itself -- and the subjects tackled in its lyrics -- much more seriously while transitioning into a heavier thrash metal style peppered by death metal elements. These ultimately won over the A&R folks at Roadrunner Records, who were coincidentally leading the thrash-to-death revolution at the time with key signings like Obituary and Sepultura. Unfortunately, Cerebral Fix's eventual sophomore album, Tower of Spite, while the recipient of rather good reviews from the U.K. press, didn't do much to impress on a worldwide scale, where comparable 1990 releases included the indomitable likes of Slayer's Seasons in the Abyss and Megadeth's Rust in Peace. And, if held up to those lofty standards, even Cerebral Fix's best moshers (e.g. "Enter the Turmoil," "Injecting Spite") and inexplicably sluggish respites ("Feast of the Fools") sounded merely competent. All the while, Simon Forrest's glass-gargling vocals fit neither the thrash or death metal definitions fans were accustomed to gravitating toward; if anything, it resembled some of the Germanic thrash bands -- Kreator, Destruction, Sodom -- that were already entering periods of transition or decline themselves. However, none of this painted a picture bleak enough to slow Cerebral Fix's modest momentum, nor could it stop them from setting out on a mostly successful tour with Napalm Death before returning to the studio to prepare their third album, 1991's Bastards. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia
