KISS - Monster

“When rock n' roll is done with that fervor, it's close to gospel. That's what I wanted to go for with this album — passion as opposed to perfection”.

This is what Paul Stanley stated before launching the 20^th studio album of KISS. I would contradict him: far from being perfect, KISS have been preaching rock’n’roll with fervour for some 40 years, album after album! In the beginning they were, together with Aerosmith, Alice Cooper or Ted Nugent, the music of the post-Watergate generation, more interested in sex, weed, alcohol and fun than in politics. And why shouldn’t it be so? But the beautiful dream died in winter of ’69, at Altamont, followed suit by his apostles Jimi, Jim si Janis. America had withdrawn from Vietnam, the “evil one” had left the White House, so... party on, dude! And the party went on for 40 years. In the mean time, some have lost it and are now making commercials for guns and Republicans (see Ted Nugent), others sold out so badly it’ll make you sick to hear them on the radio (see Aerosmith, who, in the absence of drugs, have been writing only corny ballads). KISS, however, haven’t changed much, because they were sell-outs from the very start! Think of their cartoonish image, the make-up, flashy logo, flamboyant shows with flame spitting, obscene tongues to the delirious female population with their boobs out in the shows! KISS started as a mainstream band and, having known success rather early, they exploited it like good businessmen... let’s not forget that „The Demon” Gene Simmons, is really called Chaim Weitz! But, no matter what one would say, behind their crafty business-like masks, KISS always preached rock’n’roll, from their very first album until today! And this makes us forget all their sins, even the fact that they gave birth to the unfortunate mutation of the 80s glam-rock with its permmed-up hair and colourful spandex!

Monster (2012) is the second KISS album of the 21^st century, coming after the excellent Sonic Boom (2009) and sounds as if it could have been released any time in the past decades. All the 12 songs are up to standard, but a few stand out: Hell or Hallelujah – is clearly the best song of the album and the first single, Back to the Stone Age – starts with a primal/garage/Detroit/MC5 riff and then turns into a typical Gene Simmons piece (but the pleasant surprise in the beginning remains!), Shout Mercy – some Stones in the chorus „o-oooh, alright!”, Long Way Down – the second single, a bit too serious in instrumentation and lyrics: “And I know this life makes fools of wise men, thieves, and kings (yeah) / When we lose we live our lives like puppets on a string” (it’s a good thing they put that “yeah” in!), All for the Love of Rock & Roll – a rock anthem as traditional as it gets, sung by drummer Eric Singer and Take Me Down Below – built upon an AC/DC riff (T.N.T.?), where both Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons make their appearance on the vocals! Also worth a mention is Eat Your Heart Out, for a case study on the terrible mutation suffered by British glam-rock under the LA sun.

The Earth’s “most commercial band” gives us a new testimony for rock’n’roll! Do you believe the true gospel?

Gedi Nota: 8.5