Before Spineshank formed in 1996, vocalist Jonny Santos, guitarists Marlo Gonzalez and Tim Mankowski, and drummer Tom Decker were members of a band called Basic Enigma. They released a demo EP in 1994 named Drunk With Power. According to Decker, they learned "everything not to do" in Basic Enigma, and were heavily inspired by Pantera, Slayer, and White Zombie at the time. Upon hearing Fear Factory's Demanufacture, the band took a new approach, writing songs and recording them before actually playing them. This made them realize they needed to change the way they did things. Around the same time, Mike Sarkisyan replaced Mankowski on guitar.