In September 1995, the Monsters Of Rock visited South America for the second time. Once simply the title of a one day, one stage hard rock and metal festival held at Donington Park in England, from the mid '80s the franchise started to expand into new territories - mainland Europe, the US, the Soviet Union, and from 1994, Argentina, Brazil and Chile.
Kiss, Slayer and Tony Martin-era Black Sabbath were the marquee names atop the bill the first time the Monsters Of Rock stomped into South America, but the 1995 line-up was considerably heftier, with Ozzy Osbourne, Alice Cooper, Faith No More, Megadeth, Paradise Lost and Therapy? among the international stars on the campaign. For Therapy?, who would play 101 shows in 1995, their first ever visits to São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Santigao and Buenos Aires represented golden opportunities to showcase their recently-released third full-length album Infernal Love to their expanding international fan-base. But they had no idea what truly lay ahead.
To an outsider looking in, Therapy? were on the cusp of promotion into rock's premier league in 1995. The Northern Irish trio's second album, Troublegum, a top five hit in the UK, had sold 650,000 copies worldwide in 1994, and been acclaimed as the Album of the Year by Kerrang! magazine. In August 1995, in recognition of their burgeoning profile, the band - vocalist/guitarist Andy Cairns, bassist Michael McKeegan and drummer Fyfe Ewing - played as hand-picked special guests to Metallica at their Escape From The Studio headline show at Donington, above the likes of Skid Row, Slayer, White Zombie, Slash's Snakepit and Machine Head. Their record label, A&M, was confident that, at minimum, Infernal Love would be the band's first million-selling album, and their passport to a worldwide breakthrough.
