KISS are a band who's recorded output always causes great debate among fans of rock and heavy metal. They are undoubtedly masters of the live arena and were one of the bands who pioneered theatrical, over the top live performances which many other groups have expanded on but some say never bettered.
But while The Starchild., The Demon, Space Ace and The Catman thrill audiences by the stadium-full, many of their albums have been accused of being lacklustre and full to the brim with filler. Think about it, for every Destroyer or Love
Gun there is an Unmasked, an Elder or an Animalize.
Sadly their last album, 1998's Psycho Circus falls into the latter category for me. The title track is astounding and one of my favourite KISS songs but much of the album left me unmoved and I struggled to keep my attention focused on it.
Due to the disappointment of its predecessor I approached the news that KISS were releasing their 19
th studio album
Sonic Boom this year with trepidation. To be honest I was considering not buying it till I found out it contained some intriguing bonus discs (whose material I shall discuss later).
Having heard nothing of the album beforehand, opener
Modern Day Delilah didn't really raise my hopes. Its slow, slightly sleazy groove was not quite what I had expected or wished for. But thankfully unlike Psycho Circus which was all downhill after the first track, Sonic Boom continually picks up steam with only a couple of wrong turns along the way.
Second track
Russian Roulette changes gears up a bit and in true KISS fashion, it's a song about Gene's *Ahem* sex pistol. That's right ladies,
"One pull of the trigger is all you're gonna get". You lucky things!
As usual with KISS albums, if we were rating them on a scale of smut and innuendo, well it would be off the charts. Another of the Simmons penned tracks on the album is entitled
I'm An Animal. Now as you can imagine it's the story of Gene and the gang taking a bunch of kids on a day trip to the Zoo to see the penguins and the Llamas..possibly.
But seriously folks, ignoring the long-tongued ones rather famous libido there are some quality songs on display here. The band have clearly been aiming for the "classic" KISS sound of the 70's and the production harks back to that era with plenty of separation and space been instruments
But as you have probably heard Ace and Peter Criss are long gone and into their make-up and oversized platform shoes have stepped guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer extraordinaire (and previous KISS member) Eric Singer.
Now due to the style of the music being played, Eric Singer turns in no more than a restrained, professional performance which provides the backbone of the band. Tommy's showing however, is much more impressive.
He has clearly being doing his homework for the album and has nailed Ace's lackadaisical style of playing. Case in point would be the superb
All For The Glory, which kicks it old school (if you will pardon the Americanism) with some great lead work, including a solo highly reminiscent of Love
Gun era Frehley. Oh and Singer proves his worth to the album as a whole by contributing the excellent lead vocals on this one.
It's a shame then that the only serious misfire on the album is the Thayer/Stanley penned
When Lighting Strikes. The song is not only pretty lazily constructed but is made totally redundant by the fact that verses are a stone cold rip off of AC/DC's Highway To Hell. You may think I'm being a little harsh but try to listen and not sing
"No stop signs, speed limits" or even scream
"HEY SATAN" at points, trust me you will fail miserably.
Another song that is guilty of a little theft is
Never Enough which bears a striking resemblance to Poison's Nothing But A Good Time. But unlike When Lightning Strikes it doesn't suffer too much and is a solid song in its own right.
Not content with pilfering other bands, KISS indulge themselves a little by lifting some licks from their own career. Worse offender (but bizarrely the best executed) is
Danger Us which contains the main riff of God Of
Thunder re-jigged slightly. However the song is just so damn addictive you can ignore its faults and sing along with the pun-tastic chorus of "
Danger you, danger me, danger us". Paul sounds like an excitable kid when his is belting out this one and his enthusiasm is highly infectious.
The album ends on a high with an archetypal "KISS against the world" stadium anthem called
Say Yeah which sends out the open invitation that
"If your ready for a wild ride, let me hear you say yeah". This song is so joyous that you can even overlook the ever so subtle dodgy subtext of the offer and agree to what ever the band offer (be afraid guys, be very afraid).
While not being the best KISS album ever released it does have the distinction of being one of the strongest let loose in my lifetime. Which considering I've now been on this planet 26 years is not faint praise. I'm strangely looking forward to the next album now and can only hope it doesn't take another ten or so years to be released. Do you really want to hear Gene and Paul singing about making sweet love at that age?
Bonus Material: It's safe to say that if this album was being marked by taking into account the extra discs and over all value it would be on its way to a perfect 10. The special edition comes with not only a 50 min CD but also a six track live DVD.
The CD is entitled KISS Klassics and is fifteen of Kiss's best loved tracks re-recorded by the current line up. It's a diverting, interesting listen with the songs beefed up with modern production. The tracks on offer range from right way back at the beginning of KISS-tory with Black Diamond (sung this time round by Eric Singer) through to overlooked 80's tracks like the brilliantly overblown Forever (yeah I know it was co-written with Michael Bloody Bolton but I still like it).
Gene and Paul being the greedy buggers they are means there are no Ace or Peter songs on the album. But that's only to be expected as this was originally a Japan only release which could have been construed as a way for them to divert royalties away from the other two. The cheeky beggers!
The DVD is six tracks recorded live in Argentina on the Alive 35 tour. The rather boisterous South American crowd create a good atmosphere for the gig as the band rocket through early tracks like Deuce and 100,000 Years. Well worth watching if a little short, mind you it's a free DVD so you can't complain too much.
All three discs are contained in an attractive Digi-Pack and if you can get a hold of this version then I would add another point or three only the final score. It's a perfect jumping on point for new fans or members of the KISS Army who have lost their way.
Written by
Stuart Wednesday, November 18, 2009
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