Into the Eyes of the Zombie Kings

by Ned Raggett After Helios Creed departed Chrome in a huff, Damon Edge split from San Francisco and the Stench brothers rhythm section to settle with his girlfriend, occasional album guest Fabienne Shine, in Europe. His lust for music hadn't died, and as the original founder and only remaining member of Chrome left in the band, he decided to form a new lineup with four French musicians and continue under the Chrome name. This turned out to be a bad move, though, as Into the Eyes of the Zombie King, the first post-Creed Chrome release, showed in spades. Exchanging the thrilling, often jaw-dropping Creed guitar antics and the dependable Stench players for competent but no-better-than-mediocre performers wasn't a good move at all. Those used to the heights of past Chrome will wish in vain for more from the performers, especially guitarist Remy Devilla. There's no question that he can play his chosen instrument, every so often coming up with some wannabe-Creed pyrotechnics, as on "It Wasn't Real." There's also no question that he has nothing like the inventive passion of Creed, content simply to play what he's been asked to do. His one collaboration with Edge, the album-opening "Trip the Switch," has a vaguely corporate new wave/modern rock catchiness to it, but that's about it. The rest of the time Edge writes further attempts at being up to date (in 1984 terms, at least); the result is bland material that slots in with the worst of the Fixx. Sometimes there's more going on there that calls to mind the real Chrome days -- the title track has some booming background drumming that's suitably weird and hollow, while Edge grunts the title line through heavy vocal treatments. The odd sci-fi lyric raises its head as well, but it's not enough, especially with Edge's vocals turning more from alien weirdness to stupid sleaze, making Zombie King the first signpost on a dreadful slide for Edge into unfortunate obscurity.