{"id":7156,"date":"2012-10-09T00:00:08","date_gmt":"2012-10-09T00:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=7156"},"modified":"2013-06-01T16:02:28","modified_gmt":"2013-06-01T16:02:28","slug":"album-review-kiss-monster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-kiss-monster\/","title":{"rendered":"KISS – Monster (2012) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

KISS
Monster<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nUniversal (2012)<\/span>
Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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After a disappointing outing with Psycho Circus<\/em> (1998) and a complete letdown with Sonic Boom<\/em> (2009), I could really have cared less about the release of Monster<\/em>. Once I saw it in front on me in the music section of my local Wal-Mart though, my Kiss Army loyalty kicked in and I picked it up. Much to my surprise, Monster<\/em> is exactly that! It\u2019s a hard-edged, rock \u2019n\u2019 roll ride that has some excellent moments on it. <\/p>\n

The production here may be the most noteworthy part of the show. Monster<\/em> has a huge, thick sound to it. In that respect it reminds me a bit of Creatures Of The Night<\/em> (1982) and Revenge<\/em> (1992), although the songwriting has a more rock \u2019n\u2019 roll flare to it that is probably more in line with Hot In The Shade<\/em> (1989) or Rock And Roll Over<\/em> (1976). <\/p>\n

This is evidenced best by the screaming solos on \u2018Long Way Down\u2019, the spiralling and appropriately titled \u2018Wall Of Sound\u2019, and the delightfully evil, Gene Simmons-led \u2018The Devil Is Me\u2019. The latter of which took me back a bit; I guess Simmons has more left in him than I gave him credit for!<\/p>\n

Monster<\/em> is a rock \u2019n\u2019 roll ride from start to finish really, so anthems are not in short order. \u2018Shout Mercy\u2019 has a Rolling Stones kinda swagger with Paul Stanley screeching provocatively over the top of the pounding rhythms. \u2018All For The Love Of Rock & Roll\u2019 has a Grand Funk Railroad kinda fun spirit to it, and Eric Singer\u2019s voice brings something refreshingly different to the album dynamics. \u2018Hell Or Hallelujah\u2019 is a straight shooter as well, shedding all the pretence that Kiss are anything but a good time rock \u2019n\u2019 roll band. \u2018Take Me Down Below\u2019 is damn near perfect as far as anthems go, boasting a huge chorus, a great riff, and a driving rhythm section. <\/p>\n

There are a couple of moments where it feels like the guys are trying too hard. Most notably \u2018Freak\u2019, which musically fits right in, but lyrically is pretty cheesy. And that\u2019s being nice about it. \u2018Outta This World\u2019 is plagued by the same musical problems, but the music is so tight that it comes off slightly better. <\/p>\n

Overall, I couldn\u2019t be more shocked that Kiss had an album like this left in them. Unlike Sonic Boom<\/em> and Psycho Circus<\/em>, this doesn\u2019t sound like Kiss trying to be Kiss. It just sounds like Kiss, fun and energetic and a little goofy. Easily the band\u2019s best album in nearly 25 years, longtime fans and new should both give this album a chance. I think you\u2019ll be well pleased with what you hear. <\/p>\n

Mark Fisher<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KISSMonster Universal (2012)Rating: 8\/10 After a disappointing outing with Psycho Circus (1998) and a complete letdown with Sonic Boom (2009), I could really have cared less about the release of Monster. Once I saw it in front on me in the music section of my local Wal-Mart though, my Kiss Army loyalty kicked in and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[321],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kiss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7156"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12209,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7156\/revisions\/12209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}