★★★★★
Nowadays, Kiss probably have a higher profile in the UK than they ever enjoyed in their 70s heyday, with new generations discovering the charms of their somewhat patchy back catalogue thanks to their always-formidable self-promotion. Monster is another step in the band's rehabilitation since they reapplied the makeup for 1998's Psycho Circus; and, like everything the band has done since then, it's part hard rock record, part cynical marketing exercise...
- recordcollectormag.com
2013-04-02
★★★★★
Produced by band co-founder/frontman/guitarist Paul Stanley, Monster is stylistically akin to Kiss' previous record, 2009's Sonic Boom -- which is to say that it's a mind-numbing collection of uninspired old-school riffs, woven together by endless cock-rock clichés and double entendres.However, this is certainly nothing new for the "Hottest Band in the Land...
- www.ink19.com
2013-04-02
★★★★★
Like all the best rock bands, Kiss have always flourished in live performances. In fact, the extravagance of their stage production has over the years tended to obscure the fact that some of their songs really aren't that great. Their fourth studio album, Destroyer, had its share of hits - Detroit Rock City and God Of Thunder, of course, and the ballad Beth - and played a real part in defining its era, but it's hardly the calibre of equivalently full-blooded stadium rock albums such as, say,...
- recordcollectormag.com
2013-04-02
★★★★★
You can be dumb, but not dumb and lazy. That's my take on things because if you look at my music collection, you'll find a lot of stuff that's dumb, childish, perhaps lacking ambition or anything remotely similar to it. But when an artist serves up something and expects you to eat it just because they slapped their name on it, that's when I get angry. One can be viewed as not taxing the audience too much while the other is disrespectful...
- popdose.com
2013-06-25
★★★★★
It's the age old question, the conundrum that's foxed commentators and philosophers for decades: if you could go back in time and make sure Gene Simmons never got his hands on a guitar, would you? It's a toughie, for sure, but one that we've all asked ourselves at some point. I'm torn. If not music, then what? Acting? Politics? Sometimes, you gotta just let fate decide. It could have been so much worse...
- music.thedigitalfix.com
2012-10-15
★★★★★
When Destroyer came out it was hotly anticipated by what was quickly becoming "the Kiss Army." Before their fourth release, the Alive! live album, there purportedly was a lot of worrying behind the scenes over whether they were going to hold on and make it. Their brand of hard rock (or shock rock) was not really in vogue yet, with only Alice Cooper managing to make inroads to sway the fans of glam to the grimier stuff. And Kiss was nowhere near the androgyny of David Bowie, T...
- popdose.com
2012-08-30
★★★★★
Sound: This is the Album, that turned Kiss from hardcore rockstars to comic book heros, here to stay. While the sound of the record differs from the first three studio albums, the songs are faster, the guitars more metallic, and a different sound, the album is strong...
- www.ultimate-guitar.com
2012-04-12
★★★★★
Sound: The bands second album, "Hotter Than Hell", might've done worse on the charts than its predecessor, but the tracks remained a concert staple throughtout the seventies. The band's sound was like that of the first record, the blues influenced hard rock, but the quality of the sound is awful. The Song "Parasite" sounds like it was recorded in a cardboard box, most of the album is murkey in a sense compared to the first album, and albums after that...
- www.ultimate-guitar.com
2012-04-12