''Cracked Brain'' is the fourth full-length studio album by German

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...

band

Destruction Destruction may refer to: Concepts * Destruktion, a term from the philosophy of Martin Heidegger * Destructive narcissism, a pathological form of narcissism * Self-destructive behaviour, a widely used phrase that ''conceptualises'' certain kin ...

, released in June 1, 1990. It is the band's only album to feature André Grieder of Poltergeist, replacing

Schmier Destruction is a German thrash metal band formed in 1982. They are often credited as one of the "Big Four" of the German thrash metal scene, the others being Kreator, Sodom and Tankard. In addition to helping pioneer black metal by containing ...

, who was fired after the initial sessions for the album. Also featured is a cover of

The Knack The Knack was an American rock band based in Los Angeles that rose to fame with its first single, " My Sharona", an international number-one hit in 1979. History Founding (1977–1978) Singer Doug Fieger was a native of Oak Park, Michigan, a ...

song "

My Sharona "My Sharona" () is the debut single by the Knack. The song was written by Berton Averre and Doug Fieger, and it was released in 1979 from their debut album, '' Get the Knack''. It reached number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart, ...

Recording and production

Recording for ''Cracked Brain'' first started in 1989 but came to a halt when Destruction fired their vocalist and bassist

. Guitarist Mike Sifringer recalled, "We recorded the basic tracks – drums and

riff A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or acc ...

-guitars – at Union-Studios in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

, a very expensive place. But Schmier was not happy with the music anymore, so what to do? We had to stop the recording session and went back home, everybody was pissed. In hindsight I know we made a wrong decision, we didn't talk enough. We did not meet for years after the split." On the album's recording process, Sifringer said, "To save a bit of money we recorded bass and vocals in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

at Sky Track. A funny bloke named Gerdy, that's all I remember, was behind the desk there. Finally, the producer Guy Bidmead, Oli, Harry and I mixed the whole thing back in Munich." Destruction began re-recording ''Cracked Brain'' shortly after hiring André Grieder of Poltergeist as Schmier's replacement. Drummer Oliver Kaiser recalled, "André had been a long-time friend of ours – and still is. We asked him if he would like to finish ''Cracked Brain'' with us because we liked his melodious approach to thrash, his style was a bit Testament-influenced you might say. We knew there would never be another Schmier so we thought it'd be better to go into a different direction with the vocals. André really did a great job on ''Cracked Brain''." He added, "When André flew up to Berlin for the recording sessions, I had everything already laid out for him. I sang the songs to him and he nailed them just like that."

Track listing

All songs by Sifringer, Wilkens and Kaiser, except track 5 written by Doug Fieger and Berton Averre

Personnel

;Destruction *Mike Sifringer – guitar, bass *Harry Wilkens – guitar, bass *Oliver Kaiser – drums *André Grieder – vocals ;Additional musician *Christian Engler – additional bass ;Production *Andreas Marschall – cover art *Guy Bidmead – production

References

{{Authority control 1990 albums Destruction (band) albums Noise Records albums