By Petr Koral
Sonic Boom: Everything is exactly in place -- vision and music. Despite the fact that Kiss is once again playing "classic rock," in essence it's not entirely recognizeable as such either visually or musically. Eric Singer, although several classes' better a drummer than Peter Criss, reasonably stands in the background and is not an exhibitionist - and new guitarist Tommy Thayer? His solos are almost as if he was an identical twin to Ace Frehley.
This album, heralded as a "return to Kiss' golden sound," was not just an advertising proclamation. It did become - with, of course, a much more modern sound - pure reality. Kiss typically wants to rock with chants and big stadium choruses, but sometimes a song with poignant character will pop up (Stand.) And while sometimes over-the-top, a brilliant, crisp hard rock song sneaks in too (I'm An Animal) Songs dealing with, simply put, the objectification of women as eternal man-rocker-conquering you'll get far in abundance. And so it probably should be. Fans will appreciate "Danger Us" operating almost like a younger daughter of the famous smash "Detroit Rock City."
As you hear at the opening of each Kiss concert: "You wanted the best? You got the best," in its genre, Kiss really still is the best.
