CEREBRAL FIX — Tower of Spite (review)

CEREBRAL FIX — Tower of Spite album cover Album · 1990 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
UMUR
"Tower of Spite" is the 2nd full-length studio album by UK thrash metal act Cerebral Fix. The album was released through Roadracer Records in late 1990. Cerebral Fix didn´t have the most successful career and disbanded in 1993 after releasing four studio albums (they reunited in 2006). None of which made much impact on the metal scene. They went through quite a few lineup changes in their relatively short career (1986-1993), the most famous one being when bassist Frank Healy departed to join Benediction. This particular album was pretty well backed by their label though and was promoted in various metal magazines at the time.

Stylistically Cerebral Fix took a bit of a left-turn on "Tower of Spite" compared to the crossover thrash metal of their debut album "Life Sucks... And Then You Die! (1988)". While you will still find traces of crossover thrash metal on the album, the music on "Tower of Spite" is predominantly ultra heavy and at times doomy thrash metal. The pace has been lowered considerably since the debut. The slow- to mid-paced tracks are consistent in quality and style. Heavy riffs, heavy beats (occasional more upbeat) and a raw, snarling, and rather distinct sounding lead vocalist in Simon Forrest. There´s little melodic content on "Tower of Spite", and therefore it´s quite refreshing when suddenly in the middle of "Quest for Midian", a melodic harmony guitar section appears. Other than that the music is pretty one-dimensionally bleak.

The sound production is decent and pretty typical for the time. A bit too much reverb on the snare drum and the bass drums sound a bit odd too, but otherwise the sound suits the music. Overall "Tower of Spite" has a hard time convincing me of it´s qualities though. It´s as if the slow pace of the tracks, make them all sound the same and there are generally very few hooks to hold on to during the 11 track, 44:39 minutes long album. So to my ears there is a reason for the relative obscurity of Cerebral Fix. They simply weren´t up there with the best. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.
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