KISS — Creatures Of The Night (review)

KISS — Creatures Of The Night album cover Album · 1982 · Heavy Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
Warthur
Even though Music From "The Elder" had gained Kiss support from a number of critical quarters which had otherwise dismissed them completely, that didn't translate into album sales, and it didn't win over Kiss's fanbase to their new direction - and considering how famously loyal their fanbase was and still is, that's saying a lot.

So, Kiss went back to the drawing board and retooled yet again, updating the hard rock sound of their earlier albums and establishing the glam metal blueprint they would follow for most of the 80s. Although their followups to "Creatures of the Night" are less well-loved - partially because of their decision to drop the facepainted theatrics which had defined them for the previous decade - the album itself is rightly treasured as the swansong of the first facepaint era.

Lyrically, Kiss returned to familiar ground, so there's an absence of secret societies of immortals and a big helping of rock and roll, partying and love songs, and musically they even managed to work in a slow ballad that works up to a powerful crescendo in "I Still Love You". But most of the song are like the Kiss of old, only with mildly more aggressive guitars. A lot is made of the metal influences, but we're not talking Sabbath or Iron Maiden here - or even Van Halen, to be honest.

Really, Kiss have always been a pop band with hard rock packaging, and this time around they updated that with a bit of shredding here and there. They've never really been into breaking new ground; their best albums aren't going to blow your mind musically, but they are going to make you feel good. They're the kings of feel-good albums, and whilst "Creatures" isn't their best album in that vein, it's far from the worst.
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