Helios Creed

Didn’t Helios Creed slip into LSD-induced oblivion years ago? Last I’d heard from him was Chrome’s surprisingly robust 1997 comeback album, Retro Transmission. So, viva Helios! This catalyst behind one of rock’s most original psychedelic outfits is still kicking out the warped jams 26 years after joining the mighty Chrome with Damon Edge (RIP). On this date, Helios will likely be promoting On the Dark Side of the Sun (due in August), his seventeenth solo album since 1985. Although his solo efforts possess inspired moments and loads of demonic ax excursions, Creed will enter rock’s pantheon for the innovative guitar style and monstrous vocals he dropped on Chrome classics such as Alien Soundtracks, Half Machine Lip Moves and 3rd From the Sun. Using effects pedals like Tammy Faye Bakker applied makeup, Creed forged a sinisterly flanged, crispy, metallic sound that fired Chrome’s industrial-psych attack to apocalyptic dimensions. This might be your last chance to catch the original Paranoid Android before he vaporizes.