Vaunted miscreants from that golden era when bands like Napalm Death and Heresy obliterated the divide between hardcore punk and extreme metal, Cerebral Fix always had an air of shambolic goofiness about them.
Their one truly great album, Tower Of Spite, remains an underrated death metal classic, but Disaster Of Reality has far more in common with the Midlands crew’s early works, and their ultra-snotty Life Sucks And Then You Die! debut in particular. This is a filthy, intermittently metallic punk rock record, with enough Autopsy-style oomph to keep underground metalheads happy but plenty of daft lyrics and moments of oh-so-British dicking about to allay any fears that the Fix are chasing po-faced recognition. The best moments – the crushing Crucified World and the menacing rampage of Reality Pill – amount to a raucous and unhinged invitation to drink too much cider and end up in a hedge. The weaker moments, most notably the Lawnmower Deth-like Mosh Injury, are throwaway twaddle, but an overriding sense of booze-fuelled bonhomie saves the day.
