UMUR
"Death Erotica" is the 4th full-length studio album by UK thrash metal act Cerebral Fix. The album was released through Under One Flag/Music for Nations in November 1992. It´s the successor to "Bastards" from 1991 and features one lineup change as drummer Andy Baker has been replaced by Kev Frost. It would be the last album released in the band´s original run as they disbanded in 1993 after touring the UK with Paradise Lost and through Europe with Cancer. The original vinyl version of "Death Erotica" purely featured originals, but the CD version featured four bonus tracks, which are all covers by among others Discarge and Judas Priest.
Stylistically Cerebral Fix continue the doomy thrash metal style of the two direct predecessors. Crushingly heavy riffs, heavy ryhtms, and lead vocalist Simon Forrest´s raw snarling vocals in front. The band have more or less perfected their style at this point, although it´s only small twists which have been made to the doomy thrash metal sound they introduced on "Tower of Spite (1990)" and continued on "Bastards (1991)" (even the sound production is relatively similar to the sound productions of the two direct predecessors). It´s heavy and predominantly slow- to mid-paced doom/thrash metal. The tracks are generally well written, but also a little one-dimensional. A few tracks stand out like the Paradise Lost influenced "Haunted Eyes" (featuring heavy doomy riffs and a melancholic lead guitar melody), but ultimately many tracks are in a very similar style and are a little hard to tell apart.
The musicianship is generally strong, but I´m not a fan of the stiff and sometimes awkward sounding rhythms that Frost produce. A more dynamic drummer could maybe have brought more life to the songs and could maybe have driven them forward providing them with more power in the process. But instead the drumming robs the tracks of power and drive, and it´s a real shame, because there are actually some pretty wicked heavy riffs here. Forrest´s voice and vocals are a treat in small doses, but his performance on the album also comes with a minor issue, as he more or less seems to give the same performance on all tracks. The vocals are simply too one-dimensional in nature and more variation would have been nice.
So there are both quality features on "Death Erotica" and some issues which drag it down a little. That´s another way "Death Erotica" is similar to the two direct predecessors, which were also relatively one-dimensional affairs, but also features some high quality features which still made them quality releases. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.