John O'Brien/CourierMail.AuIT'S the battle of the KISS members past and present - and the fans are the winners.
In one corner is original KISS lead guitarist Ace Frehley with his first solo album in 20 years, Anomaly, featuring one-time KISS ghost drummer Anton Fig (now of The Late Show's CBS Orchestra).
In the opposing corner are KISS themselves – founding members Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, longtime drummer Eric Singer and more recent recruit Tommy Thayer – with Sonic Boom, the first KISS studio album since 1998's plodding Psycho Circus.
It could be seen as a grudge match, with Frehley getting the heave-ho from KISS several years ago after things went sour on the band's "farewell tour".
However, despite past barbs from Stanley and Simmons (the latter questioning whether "Space Ace" could still play), Frehley insists things are still amicable with his former bandmates and they have merely moved in different directions.
He's hoping Anomaly will reassert his guitar hero status after he finally broke free of decades of alcohol abuse (the September 15 release date marked two years of being clean and sober). Still, he couldn't resist a swipe at KISS when he launched Anomaly at The Viper Room in LA, saying of the band's new costumes: "Tommy Thayer had lighting bolts running all down his leg. I wonder where he got that f---ing idea from? Do something original!"
As for KISS, after declaring only a few years ago that fans weren't interested in new material, they are now touting Sonic Boom as their best since the 1976 classic Destroyer.
They're not taking any chances, though – the album will still be packaged with a greatest hits disc re-recorded by the current line-up, and a DVD of this year's South American tour. In the US, Sonic Boom will be sold exclusively through Wal-Mart, alongside other KISS memorabilia.
It's an approach increasingly being taken by supergroups.
The albums are even diametrically opposed in the way they were put together.
Anomaly was an all-digital affair, with Frehley learning to use the industry-standard ProTools software for the first time, while KISS went to great lengths to achieve a classic feel, recording in analogue.
Stanley even tapped the artist responsible for the cover of 1976's Rock and Roll Over, Michael Doret, to reprise his role for Sonic Boom.
The album has been produced by Stanley, whose vision of a back-to-basics approach has driven the whole project. Eric Singer writes on the official KISS website: "He basically said he wanted us to make a KISS record and music in the purest sense.
"Meaning no outside writers, the band plays on everything, and we use vintage equipment."
Simmons adds: "Result? Maybe the best record we've done in 30 years. Bold statement? You bet. Wait till you hear it."
Not to be left out of the action, original KISS drummer Peter Criss – who was ousted in similar fashion to Frehley, and recently revealed he had survived a brush with breast cancer – will be releasing a new solo album too.
It seems the great KISS-off is only getting started.
Ace Frehley Anomaly (Riot) and KISS Sonic Boom (Universal) out now. Ace Frehley tours Australia in February
