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KISS:REVENGE ALBUM REVIEW
1. Unholy…Holy crap!!! Now this is much more like it, Gene. Co-written by Gene and Vinnie Vincent, this is a bad-ass song. The opening riff is awesome as is the rest of the guitar playing. The boys looked cooler in this video than ever before. The only thing I would have done differently is bring up the drums. Great scream at the end by Gene…10/10
2. Take It Off…Paul’s turn to scream at the beginning (nice!!). There’s nothing like a song about a strip club. Excellent vocals. Nice guitar solo by Bruce. I like the way they slow it down after the guitar solo and the sound of Gene’s bass during this part…9/10
3. Tough Love…More excellent vocals by Paul. Although I think this is a good song, it’s not in the same category as the first two. Not bad…7/10
4. Spit…Another great offering by Gene. This one was co-written by Paul. We finally have dual vocals by Gene and Paul again, just like the good ole days. Blistering solo by Bruce with a great tribute to Jimi Hendrix. I actually love the lyrics “yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah/ for ride after ride after ride”. Great song…10/10
5. God Gave Rock And Roll To You II…This is a nice ballad. I love the guitar at the beginning. I have to admit, I didn’t like this much when it came out, but it has really grown on me. Dual vocals again. I love it. I think Eric Carr (RIP) was able to provide some backing vocals on this before his death. The only weakness I can find is Paul’s rap at the end…9/10
6. Domino…Wow, Gene really kicked his own ass as far as songwriting goes on these first 3 songs. His rap at the beginning and in the middle isn’t all that great, but the rest of the song is. Another hot solo by Bruce. Very nice backing vocals as well…9/10
7. Heart Of Chrome…Co-written by Paul and Vinnie Vincent. This is a good rock song. Paul’s vocals are very good, especially on the chorus. Backing vocals sound pretty good also. Similar to “King Of Hearts” off of Hot In The Shade with the backing vocals layered with Paul’s vocals, but it sounds much better on this song…8/10
8. Thou Shalt Not…This sounds like “The Street Giveth And The Street Taketh Away” from the previous album. Well, Gene did so good on his first 3 songs, he had to have at least one like this. I don’t care for this song…6.5/10
9. Every Time I Look At You…I love a good ballad, but I don’t think this one is very good. For some reason, this song sounds like it belongs to a band like Mr. Big…6/10
10. Paralyzed…The beginning of this song sounds great, until Gene starts singing. The verse sounds like “Spit” a little bit, but a bad version of spit. The litlle drum break in the middle is very weak. Eric Singer can drum much better than that…6/10
11. I Just Wanna…This picks up where the first seven songs left off. This sounds a lot like “Summertime Blues” by Blue Cheer (I’m not sure if that song title and band are accurate). Vinnie Vincent co-wrote this also. The way Paul breaks up the word “forget” sounds like profanity, I’m sure that was the idea. The only weak spot in the song is the slow part in the middle…8/10
12. Carr Jam 1981…Originally written when Eric Carr first joined Kiss. The original guitar track was put down by Ace Frehley, but replaced by Bruce Kulick here. This is basically a nice little instrumental with a very nice drum solo by Eric Carr. This is a good litlle groove…8/10
Average is 8/10
That average might be a little bit low. This is definitely (in my opinion) the best album since Creatures Of The Night. Gene still had 2 filler tracks, but he came up with 3 really, really good tracks for this record. Paul was his usual self, other than “Every Time I Look At You”. That track was weak. This was Eric Singer’s first album with Kiss. Eric Carr passed away in 1991 and this album was dedicated to his memory. This is the first time I can really remember Kiss releasing the first single off of an album with Gene on vocals (Unholy). Kiss had a new look (sort of grunge) but I don’t think the record sounded like grunge at all (that would be the next album). Maybe the look was more grime than grunge. The artwork was cool. I think this was exactly the album Kiss needed to make at this point in their career. Thank goodness the eighties were over…….
2. Take It Off…Paul’s turn to scream at the beginning (nice!!). There’s nothing like a song about a strip club. Excellent vocals. Nice guitar solo by Bruce. I like the way they slow it down after the guitar solo and the sound of Gene’s bass during this part…9/10
3. Tough Love…More excellent vocals by Paul. Although I think this is a good song, it’s not in the same category as the first two. Not bad…7/10
4. Spit…Another great offering by Gene. This one was co-written by Paul. We finally have dual vocals by Gene and Paul again, just like the good ole days. Blistering solo by Bruce with a great tribute to Jimi Hendrix. I actually love the lyrics “yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah/ for ride after ride after ride”. Great song…10/10
5. God Gave Rock And Roll To You II…This is a nice ballad. I love the guitar at the beginning. I have to admit, I didn’t like this much when it came out, but it has really grown on me. Dual vocals again. I love it. I think Eric Carr (RIP) was able to provide some backing vocals on this before his death. The only weakness I can find is Paul’s rap at the end…9/10
6. Domino…Wow, Gene really kicked his own ass as far as songwriting goes on these first 3 songs. His rap at the beginning and in the middle isn’t all that great, but the rest of the song is. Another hot solo by Bruce. Very nice backing vocals as well…9/10
7. Heart Of Chrome…Co-written by Paul and Vinnie Vincent. This is a good rock song. Paul’s vocals are very good, especially on the chorus. Backing vocals sound pretty good also. Similar to “King Of Hearts” off of Hot In The Shade with the backing vocals layered with Paul’s vocals, but it sounds much better on this song…8/10
8. Thou Shalt Not…This sounds like “The Street Giveth And The Street Taketh Away” from the previous album. Well, Gene did so good on his first 3 songs, he had to have at least one like this. I don’t care for this song…6.5/10
9. Every Time I Look At You…I love a good ballad, but I don’t think this one is very good. For some reason, this song sounds like it belongs to a band like Mr. Big…6/10
10. Paralyzed…The beginning of this song sounds great, until Gene starts singing. The verse sounds like “Spit” a little bit, but a bad version of spit. The litlle drum break in the middle is very weak. Eric Singer can drum much better than that…6/10
11. I Just Wanna…This picks up where the first seven songs left off. This sounds a lot like “Summertime Blues” by Blue Cheer (I’m not sure if that song title and band are accurate). Vinnie Vincent co-wrote this also. The way Paul breaks up the word “forget” sounds like profanity, I’m sure that was the idea. The only weak spot in the song is the slow part in the middle…8/10
12. Carr Jam 1981…Originally written when Eric Carr first joined Kiss. The original guitar track was put down by Ace Frehley, but replaced by Bruce Kulick here. This is basically a nice little instrumental with a very nice drum solo by Eric Carr. This is a good litlle groove…8/10
Average is 8/10
That average might be a little bit low. This is definitely (in my opinion) the best album since Creatures Of The Night. Gene still had 2 filler tracks, but he came up with 3 really, really good tracks for this record. Paul was his usual self, other than “Every Time I Look At You”. That track was weak. This was Eric Singer’s first album with Kiss. Eric Carr passed away in 1991 and this album was dedicated to his memory. This is the first time I can really remember Kiss releasing the first single off of an album with Gene on vocals (Unholy). Kiss had a new look (sort of grunge) but I don’t think the record sounded like grunge at all (that would be the next album). Maybe the look was more grime than grunge. The artwork was cool. I think this was exactly the album Kiss needed to make at this point in their career. Thank goodness the eighties were over…….
Tags: bruce kulick, eric carr, eric singer, gene simmons, kiss, paul stanley, revenge, vinnie vincent
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Gordon Williams on -
I agree that this is one of the better Kiss studio albums. I thought Kulick really shined on this. But I must admit, I really do like "Thou Shalt Not"...great lyric line in this..."Mister, if I'm going, then I'll see you in hell".
Reading this review makes me want to hear this disc. Gotta go home and put it on!
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