Biography
Throughout their run, Cerebral Fix ranked among Britain's more dependable and well-regarded thrash acts, though they rarely pushed stylistic boundaries—few U.K. bands in the style did, apart from Sabbat—and their place in the scene has since faded from view. Formed in Birmingham's industrial heartland during 1986, the group began with vocalist Simon Forrest, guitarists Gregg Fellows and Tony Warburton, drummer Adrian Jones, and bassist Paul Adams. Adams departed shortly after the 1987 demos We Need Therapy and Product of Disgust drew attention from Vinyl Solution, leaving to launch Reprisal, later renamed Benediction. Steve Watson stepped in on bass, allowing the band to complete its debut album, Life Sucks…and Then You Die!, in 1988 and begin touring alongside Bolt Thrower, Electro Hippies, and Hellbastard. The record's crossover thrash approach earned favorable notices from the British metal press and secured airplay from BBC Radio 1's John Peel, prompting a move to Roadrunner Records for the follow-up, Tower of Spite, issued in 1990. That release introduced bassist Frank Healey and drummer Andy Baker, both recruited from Sacrilege, while the next album, 1991's Bastards, featured drummer Kevin Frost and saw the band shift toward a denser, death-inflected thrash sound. Their 1992 effort, Death Erotica, released on Music for Nations and widely viewed as their strongest work, arrived just as grunge reshaped commercial tastes, rendering most thrash outfits commercially marginal. Rather than persist against shifting trends, the band disbanded in 1993. Cerebral Fix resumed live activity in 2006, with membership shifting frequently thereafter, though no new studio recordings have emerged; Metal Mind Productions issued a retrospective box set in 2007.
Albums