Xentrix were a British thrash metal band of the late 1980s/early 1990s hailing from Preston, Lancashire. Xentrix were one of the leading lights of the British Thrash movement. They had videos for their songs For Whose Advantage and their cover of Ray Parker, Jr's Ghostbusters theme.
They had regular air time on Headbangers Ball. Xentrix's biggest show was at Wembley in 1991, opening for Slayer. Xentrix had never gained global notoriety, but had many underground performances with audiences of over 2000 to 5000 people, and still do to this day. In the For Whose Advantage tour they were touring with thrash metal band Sabbat. In the most of the shows they were playing as an opening band to Sabbat.
The Sweden Rock magazine said that songs like "For Whose Advantage" and "Questions" were Thrash metal classics.[ The band gained notoriety when its demo gained interest, and a 5 star rating from Kerrang magazine. Roadrunner Records then contacted the band asking them why they had not been sent a copy, and arranged an audition with the band.
After the audition to band was signed to the label and recorded their first album Shattered Existence in the summer of 1989 and toured with Sabbat to support the album.In 1990 the band faced a small bit of controversy/publicity surrounding the release of their cover of Ray Parker, Jr.'s Ghostbusters theme, in which the original artwork for the single had an unauthorized use of the Ghostbusters logo (with the ghost flicking a V Sign). The single was subsequently re-released using a different cover. The track was originally recorded for the BBC Radio One Friday Rock Show along with several others which remain unreleased.
The band also reached new heights when they opened for Bay Area Thrash metal band Testament. Later that year they recorded their second album For Whose Advantage which gained them yet more interest and their first music video for the album's title track.In 1991 the band released the Dilute to Taste EP which had two new tracks from the band as well as a live album. The rest of 1991 saw Xentrix headlining a United Kingdom tour, taking out the new band Skyclad and a return to Hammersmith, this time opening for Brazilian Thrash metal band Sepultura.
In 1992 the band decided to take a different direction with their album Kin, adopting a more progressive style with their music, which was considered by many to be the band's biggest mistake. A music video was filmed for the album's opening track "Order of Chaos" and received some airplay on MTV, the band would later release an EP of the same name. After a European tour supporting German band Tankard, the band returned to the United Kingdom to play what would be their final tour with Chris at the helm.
Chris Astley finally left the band after recording a demo of a number of new songs, some of which ended up on Scourge, released in 1996. The band then reformed after a period of inactivity with a new vocalist, Simon Gordon, and guitarist, Andy Rudd. This line up released 1996's Scourge only before disbanding due to lack of interest from the United Kingdom's then dwindling metal scene.
The band briefly reformed with its classic line-up for a small number of dates in the UK in the early part of 2006. One of these shows included support from Onslaught and Evile. In September 2006 it was announced that the band was splitting up with no intention of reforming in the future.
Discography Shattered Existence - 1989 Ghostbusters (Single) - 1990 For Whose Advantage? - 1990 Dilute to Taste (EP) - 1991 Kin - 1992 The Order of Chaos (single) - 1992 Demo -1994 Scourge - 1996
