Kiss Complete New Album; Paul Stanley Describes Six Tracks
Kiss frontman Paul Stanley is talking about a ‘Monster’ and no, we’re not talking about his musical partner, the demon-like character Gene Simmons. ‘Monster’ is the 20th album by Kiss, which they finished recording Friday (Jan. 6) and will begin mixing next week. Now that they are one step closer to releasing the disc, let's read Stanley's take on six of the new songs.
He raves about Eric Singer’s drumming on the number ‘It’s A Long Way Down,’ calling it a “defining track in the sense that it’s very up-tempo.” He goes on, saying that Simmons sings ‘Back To The Stone Age’ and that he comes from “a school where you write a verse, a bridge, a chorus, and then you go back. That's in my blood. It's in Motown, it's in The Beatles, it's in Led Zeppelin, it's in The Who, it's in all my favorite bands."
He calls ‘Shout Mercy’ a “great track” and leads us to believe that it may be the opening song. He admits there are many tracks that could start the album but he’s a firm believer that the beginning song is the “declaration of what the album really is” and it defines what will follow.
‘Out Of This World’ is guitarist Tommy Thayer’s contribution, and according to Stanley, “he really pushed the limits,” calling Thayer's playing phenomenal. He continues by saying "‘Wall Of Sound’ is immediately recognizable and identifiable and true to being Kiss.”
Another up-tempo song is ‘Hell Or Hallelujah,’ which Stanley calls ‘definitive’. In fact, he's convinced that every song on the record is “quintessential, as no one does it better and many have tried.”
Overall, the recording process had much to do with the final result. “The band’s all there, all the time, and we cut the tracks all facing each other in the same room. Chemistry and camaraderie, that’s essential. That’s what made ‘Sonic Boom’ [2009] so great and this album is thunderously better,” Stanley says.
Kiss cut 14 tracks and what they actually release or how it will all play out is yet to be seen, but Stanley insists that there’s “no filler.” Kiss aimed at the bull’s eye for ‘Monster’ and according to him, they've “hit it full on.”