I’m still not entirely clear what drew Brix Smith back into the orbit of MES and the Fall, but for the ’94 tour in support of Middle Class Revolt, she was back on guitar and vocals. And when they hit the studio for this LP, she re-assumed her role as co-songwriter and foil to her ex-husband. Whatever the reason, her return was welcome, if this appropriately titled album is any indication. Cerebral Caustic sounds as if the previous seven years of the Fall simply didn’t happen. Outside of some modern production touches — MES doubling up and obscuring his vocals in a variety of ways, the cleaner recording sound — this could be the follow up to Frenz/Oranj. Everyone on it sounds more keyed up than ever, outside of Dave Bush, whose work is mostly obscured by the double-guitar attack of Brix and Craig Scanlon and the doubled up drumming of Simon Wolstencroft and Karl Burns. “Feeling Numb” and “One Day” have plenty of six-string bite to them, and the glammy “Don’t Call Me Darling” feels particularly nasty. It also appears that MES was finally embracing the possibilities of the recording studio. Not just through his own vocals, but through sonic exercises like “Bonkers in Phoenix,” a Brix ballad that he took great pleasure in remixing like a dub plate, speeding up her vocals, cutting in some asides of his own, and lovingly screwing with. Though history proves differently, it certainly felt like a full Fall renaissance was underway.