Kiss - Sonic Boom - 2009
Oh, Kiss, how long has it been? 10 years? 11? Really? Wow.
11 years after the "reunion" album, Psycho Circus, Kiss is back with the Big Box Wal-Mart retailer album, Sonic Boom.
Big crunchy guitars, anthem choruses, it's all there. Gone are the days of chasing the latest sound. Probably because the latest sound is Indie Rock and Dance Pop. I don't think the 59 year old S&S are up to that. And they know what their fans want. They want Rawk!
So, the boys bring the rawk. 42 minutes of Glam Metal Rawk.
For the most part, Sonic Boom brings it. It's pretty straight forward. The song, "Never Enough" dances so close to Poison's "Nuthin' but a Good Time" that it's dangerous but it never teeters. It's it's own track.
Paul took over the producing duties and crank out a record that sounds more like what 70s Kiss would sound like produced in 2009. I'd stack a lot of this record up next to, say, Love Gun, anyday.
The boys sound like they're having a good time. Not as angry as on Revenge. There's no nu-metal. It's not as dark as Creatures. Or misguided as....AsylumCrazyNightsTheElderCarnivalofSoulsHotintheShade.....
"Stand" is as good as any anthem they've done and I prefer it to much of what has passed for Kiss lo the past 10 records. While "Hot and Cold" sounds like the stepchild of "Domino" and is nowhere near that song. It's more Gene. More Ego. Blurg. But it's catchy as hell by the end.
For all of you who have been begging and pleading for the day when Eric Singer, number 4 (I think) in a long list of Kiss drummers, to sing your day has come!!!!
He sings the generic anthem "All for the Glory" in a generic rock way. Innocuous. Doesn't embarrass himself.
I can do without the sludge metal of "I'm an Animal", it's bored and boring.
And if, like me, you've been waiting for almost 20 years for Ace Frehley replacement and wearer of the Spaceman makeup Tommy Thayer to make HIS vocal contribution to the Kiss oeuvre, your wait is over! "When Lightning Strikes". Anonymous rock. But nothing to be ashamed of. There was worse filler on some of those classic Kiss records.
The last song, "Say Yeah" is a great way to go out. Ready made for the stadium. (it sounds like something, though, I can't place it.....oh, yeah! Tommy Tu-tone's 867-5309. But that's okay. Bruce ripped that off with Radio Nowhere a couple years ago. Can't keep a good riff down)
Buy it at Amazon
Grade: B
ASide: Modern Day Delilah, Stand, Say Yeah
BlindSide: Never Enough, Yes I Know (Nobody's Perfect), Danger Us
DownSide: I'm an Animal
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