Oct. 24, 2012 - Issue #888: Winter Guide 2012
Monster
Kiss {recordings_bands_mg} Monster {/recordings_bands_mg}
Universal,
2
To hear singer/guitarist Paul Stanley tell it, his expanded role as producer was absolutely necessary for Kiss to continue as a recording entity: Stanley was determined to recapture the energy the band had back when it was in its '70s heyday.To hear singer/bassist Gene Simmons tell it, the band's new album is a meat-and-potatoes affair: the purpose was not to deliver any surprises but to zone in on the type of material that made the band famous.
To hear the album, Monster, it can be said that both were correct to some extent: the production is solid, loaded with energy, but without the sloppy charm that former guitarist Ace Frehley brought to the band, and the songs are unsurprising, with a few standouts—the street corner harmonizing and old-school rock 'n' roll riffing on "Eat Your Heart Out" and the cheese 'n' swagger mix on "All For the Love of Rock & Roll"—but the rest of the album wears thin as Simmons and Stanley (alongside latter-day members Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer) play dress-up in their old clothes, both literally and metaphorically. Despite some tough licks from the guitars and bass, it's pretty ridiculous sounding to hear Simmons loudly proclaiming "The devil is me" when he's already pulled back the curtains and revealed himself as a gentle goofball on his reality series.
Monster works as a throwback tribute to the past, and it's superior to most of what the band has done since the late '70s, but it doesn't cut it when stacked up next to the band's best work. vueweekly.com comments: powered by Disqus
Privacy Policy:
Vue respects your privacy. We will not forward your personal information to any other organization except as required by law, and will use your e-mail address only to respond to your comments. We reserve the right to edit and remove comments for length, clarity and/or if they are illegal or inappropriate. Your email address is never shown to visitors to vueweekly.com. Read the whole policy at: http://vueweekly.com/privacy
Comments policy
Comments go online directly without first being seen or reviewed by editors at Vue. Don't personally attack people, don't be defamatory, don't be spam-atory, don't hawk your band, don't pretend to be someone else, be clear, be on topic, be nice. Read our extended comments policy here. »
We use Disqus for our comments system. What's that all about?
We found that managing the comment community at Vue was easier to do with a system like Disqus. If this isn't straightforward to you, get help here.