The album was sufficiently successful to attract more attention and

The album was sufficiently successful to attract more attention and in 1979 the band secured a European deal with Acrobat Records. Before a new album was recorded, Byrd was replaced by Bernie Tormé and Barnacle by drummer Mick Underwood , Ian Gillan’s former colleague in Episode Six . Torme’s “screaming guitar” sound fundamentally altered the dynamics and Gillan took a more heavy metal direction. This line-up’s first album was released as Mr. Universe and contained many re-worked songs from The Japanese Album . The album went straight into the UK album charts but stalled as Acrobat Records went bankrupt. This led to a multi-album deal with Virgin Records .