KISS - SONIC BOOM

Kiss's 19th studio album does in fact rock! Founding members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley are at the helm, with long time live companions (aka Ace and Peter action figures) Tommy Thayer on gits and Eric Singer on drums. Okay so Paul Stanley produced these recordings, and for all intents and purposes this has the feel of on old time Kiss record, which is the good news... The not so good news is there are really only a few inspired tracks in my opinion: Modern Day Delilah, a bang 'em out rock n roll tune which is fun in the "how you doing out there Cleveland?" way. While Russian Roulette is a strong follow up track, it does get a little creepy with all of Gene Simmons' sexual innuendoes... ya know, coming from a grandpa and all. Gene does however make up for it on I'm An Animal. My Fave track is Stand; it has that "God Gave Rock And Roll to You 2" vibe while maintaining its own identity, especially with the fantastic old school middle eight. Say Yeah was the second single. I thought Say Yawn might have been a better title until I really listened to it. Say Yeah is a good old fashioned stadium rock anthem with all the right bits, including a break down and a great sing along part for the live show. Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer both do lead vocals on one song each; they're okay songs but we don't buy Kiss Cd's at Walmart (exclusive distributors) in 2010 to hear them sing (nothing personal - you guys are awesome) A little while back Gene Simmons was quoted as saying they would not be doing any more original recordings. That may have changed with Ace Freehley coming out with his first solo effort since the 70's. Sadly, Ace's CD is just a smidge better that this one, however he is the Space Ace so he gets an extra thumbs up anyway. As with all new CD's from the Walmart packaging dept., this CD comes with a greatest hits CD with most of what you would expect from Rock And Roll All Night to Lick It UP (sadly no Creatures of the Night) Also included is a 6 song live DVD which is fun to watch once. So, all in all, is this anything special? No, not really. Should you buy it anyway? If you're a kiss fan yes! You can't beat the price and sonically it does sound great! If it takes you back for just a second to the grand old Kiss days, wouldn't you say that was worth it? It did... and I do.
3.0 out of 5 Anarchy Speakers
J.S.L