Creatures Of The Night

Since the beginning of Metalreviews.com, those of you who have followed my reviews should have remarked that I am a mega fan of Kiss ... especially a huge fan of Paul Stanley, the best singer & songwriter ever for me. I think the time has come to write a review about my all-time favorite band ... or if you prefer, THE band that I grew up with. Iced Earth has replaced this band in my heart a few years ago, thanks to Matthew Barlow who sings almost like ... Paul Stanley. When Creatures Of The Night arrives in the CD stores, Kiss is facing its most important challenge in its whole career. The Elder (previous record) is a complete sales disaster and still today, the "worst seller" for Kiss. I am wondering why as The Elder is simply wonderful. But that's another story I will talk about another time ... Kiss was enormous at the end of the 70's. Since Alive!, Kiss is an unstoppable money machine. Destroyer, Rock 'n' Roll Over, Love Gun, Alive II, Double Platinum ... and of course Dynasty. Actually, all the problems of Kiss will start from Dynasty : I Was Made For Lovin' You is one of the most popular song on this planet .... but die-hard Kiss fans will never understand why their "painted stars" have sold their souls to the music business and became "disco monkeys". On the other hand, this song proves again that Paul Stanley is a genius ... as he wrotes this song in no time on his sofa!!! We will discuss of Dynasty also another time. So Kiss enters in studio without the support of the crowd, without Peter Criss who has been "kindly" fired officially after Unmasked (he was unofficially before) ... and also without Ace Frehley. Even though you can see Ace on the cover, Vinnie Vincent is "already" here and is the new lead guitarist playing on Creatures Of The Night. The announcement will be official on the next Kiss album (Lick It Up). Eric Carr, who replaced Peter Criss, is in fact the best choice Kiss could ever made. Eric plays much heavier compare to Peter Criss, who was a kind of "jazzy-drummer". This is exactly what Kiss needed at that time. Combined with the "arrival" of Vinnie Vincent (another genius songwriter), Kiss sounds for the first time heavy, real heavy and is back to the metal family. With bombastic songs like Creatures Of The Night, I Love It Loud, War Machine and the wonderful power ballad I Still Love You, Kiss signs here one of its best ever album and proves to the rest of the world that Kiss still bites and is BACK !!! Songs like Saint And Sinner or Rock And Roll Hell are two jewels forgotten by the time ... This is also the best period for Gene Simmons (bass, vocals) as songwriter on Creatures Of The Night and on the next one, Lick It Up. Thanks to Vinnie Vincent? No comment. This will be the last tour with the make-up (until the reunion of course). Kiss is somehow at the top ... and will start to fall. Still today, I am wondering how the king has fallen from the throne ... following this unbelievable great record. In fact, the first fans have left the "Kiss house" since a long time now (between the solo albums and The Elder) and Kiss is battling with Creatures Of The Night for new fans. Guess what ? They found me. "You better watch out 'cause I am a War Machine". That was back in 1982 ... and I was 16. Since that album 'til now, I love them loud.