[citation needed] Mantissa had formed in 1989 as Killing Time in Melbourne with Nina Grant (ex-Good and Evil) on bass guitar and vocals; Chris Paine (Utter Stench) on guitar; Adam Pringle (Compressed Heads) on lead vocals; and Arnie Prazz on drums.
[1] By year's end Prazz was successively replaced by Russell Hopkinson and Tubby Wadsworth (aka Alex Nikolzew).
[1] In June 1990 Jed Starr (aka Darren McCormack) joined on lead guitar and the band used a "more adventurous contemporary hard rock stance".
[2] According to Australian rock music historian, Ian McFarlane, "[w]ith its crunching guitar riffs and funkified bass lines, the anthemic 'Ruby's Mind' launched Killing Time as a band with enormous potential and crossover appeal".
[3] McFarlane noted "The album mixed grinding, heavy riffs, Grant's rumbling bass lines and Pringle's dramatic vocals with a mystical feel and all manner of psychedelic touches".
[1] In 1993 Mantissa spent nine months touring the US to promote the American release of Mossy God, including a support for Mindfunk.
[1] Mantissa returned to Australia by 1994 and opened for Pantera in November, they played at the January 1995 Big Day Out festival then released another EP, Inter Alia, that month.