Chronicles, Vol. 2

The second of the two collections of unreleased material appearing on Chrome Box, Chronicles Vol. 2 again has the Damon Edge/Helios Creed/Hilary and John Stench lineup, plus Edge's girlfriend Fabienne Shine and a guest cellist on "Gehenna Lion," again doing its thing. Consisting of two side-long jam sessions, it makes for a feast for hardcore Chrome fans who favor that band's lengthy, motorik/krautrock aspect. Given the general similarities to tracks on the first Chronicles, it's likely that everything was recorded in the same batch of sessions. On "Beacons to the Eye," Edge once again is in major vocal distortion/weirdness mode, proclaiming whatever it is he's talking about -- aliens, doom, sex, and death -- through his favored layers of murk. Creed, meanwhile, again takes the musical lead, and while one will always know he'll pull out another lengthy feedback solo, he does a great job with it every time. The Stenches keep the groove going as they do, if perhaps a touch more leadenly than before. The beat leaves about seven minutes in before reappearing, with the rest of the music, being run in reverse -- if an obvious enough trick, it still does sound pretty good -- before sinking away into various Edge/Creed doodlings, then firing up again. "Gehenna Lion" also fits into the same general vein, though with a notably slower beat. Creed still goes all over the place with his guitar, though, and Edge at least sounds a little more involved this time out, vocal distortion or not. Still, the chorus -- a ponderously whispered "Here be I/Gehenna Lion" -- is rather more giggle-worthy than much of his earlier weird-out material. The second part of the track, with a slightly different but still slow and ponderous rhythm, provides more fine Creed guitar stoned/freakout soloing for aural stimulation. ~ Ned Raggett