Monster

As Kiss approach 40 years of ridiculous rock & roll fun, it makes sense that their 20th studio album, Monster, is more self-referential than anything. Following 2009's Sonic Boom, the album marks the second set of tunes by a revamped "original" Kiss lineup, with Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons joined by new guitarist Tommy Thayer and re-emerging Eric Singer donning the makeup and personas originated by Ace Frehley and Peter Criss, respectively. Monster is a tremendous throwback to the superhuman partying and heavy metal Ragnarök of Kiss albums like Destroyer and Love Gun, with meaty riffs, hamfisted drumming, and a combination of Simmons' patented demonic growls and Stanley's interstellar party-starting, not to mention amounts of cowbell that would have been above average even in 1977. "All for the Love of Rock & Roll" is a big-hearted boogie rocker that would have fit on Frehley's stoney 1978 solo album, while the campily sinister metal riffage of "The Devil Is Me" and "Freak" fit more into the era of slick radio metal of 1992's Revenge. The muddy analog a cappella intro of "Eat Your Heart Out" sets the tone for tongue-in-cheek double entendres updating "Shout It Out Loud" with slightly different lyrics but the same bell-bottomed irreverence. ~ Fred Thomas