AMG Review of Eye of the Zombie

Stephen Thomas Erlewine
All Music Guide

He may have taken a decade to cut his third album, but John Fogerty wasted no time in delivering a sequel to his blockbuster 1985 comeback Centerfield, rushing Eye of the Zombie into stores in 1986. Eye of the Zombie bears a surprisingly synthesized production, a clanking, cavernous collection of keyboards, squealing controlled distortion, and conflicting drum programs. To a certain extent, this unpleasantness may be intentional because at its core, Eye of the Zombie is a very angry album, finding Fogerty railing against all manners of ‘80s evils, whether it’s crass consumerism, blaring headlines, or the violent policies they chronicle. Instead of pairing this doom to some swampy choogle, Fogerty sets it to too-tight synth rhythms and encases it in glassy production that is the antithesis of Fogerty’s rage.