When Kiss decided to re-form with their original line-up
(including guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss) and
return to using the kabuki make-up, they dusted off their tour gear
from
Destroyer… and why not? After all, that’s the album that
made them superstars. So, why tamper with something successful?
After finally catching people’s ears with
Alive! and “Rock And Roll All Nite,” the hard rock quartet
re-focused their energies into the studios on
Destroyer, an album that was as varied as it was fomula…
and despite a muddy sound (which could just be my cassette), it
works well.
Opening with what would become a rock anthem, “Detroit Rock
City” is a powerful example of ’70s hard rock – one that sounds
great today. Anyone who doesn’t think much of Gene Simmons as a
bassist needs to only listen to the riff he plays in the verses to
see how good he was. (So he’s not Geddy Lee; he doesn’t need to be
in this particular vein of hard rock.) This song, simply put, is a
classic.
But the real fame from
Destroyer came not from the cock-rock attitudes or the
head-banging beats. No, it came from a ballad – one sung by the
drummer, no less. “Beth” became Kiss’s first top ten hit in
America, and is a decent enough song detailing the struggles a
musician faces when their family life and band life divide them.
Criss’s singing isn’t the greatest, but it does fit the mood of the
song well.
Destroyer holds a few other cards up its sleeve, as well.
“Great Expectations” is not your traditional Kiss number; it boasts
a richer, more orchestrated sound – almost as if they were trying
to create an epic with this one. Unfortunately, they don’t succeed.
This one comes off as being a little too self-indulgent, even for
Kiss, and it just doesn’t work.
Fortunately, there’s a lot of solid rock and roll that holds
this album together. “God Of Thunder,” featuring Simmons’s vocals,
seems menacing at first (possibly this is where some narrow-minded
fools thought Kiss was Satanic?), but in the end proves to be more
show than threat, even in all its bombasity. “Shout It Out Loud”
and “Do You Love Me” are decent rockers that have become classics
to members of the Kiss Army, while “Flaming Youth” and “Sweet Pain”
are two under-rated tracks in my book.
What makes
Destroyer work in the end is that the music still sounds as
fresh today as it did in 1976. If only the overall sound of this
album were better – although the sound might have been improved
when it was finally issued on compact disc. (Opinions on this
subject are now being welcomed.)
Kiss is still very much a force to be dealt with in the world of
rock and roll – and they have
Destroyer to thank for that… as do we.
