Unitron Kiss have always been more known for their image and live shows than their actual music, and it's not too hard to see why. While they always make sure to put on a spectacular stage show, when it comes to albums, there's usually a few great songs among a bunch of filler. They're also followers of trends, as seen by their excursion into disco in the late 70's, their attempt at a concept album after the success of Pink Floyd's The Wall, and then Creatures of the Night is the band making a heavy metal album with the genre increasing in popularity.

Surprise surprise, they actually nail it! This has always been my favorite Kiss album, not because it's a metal album, but because it's their strongest collection of songs in a studio album format. Don't know how they did it, but each song on here is a booming arena metal behemoth with hooks and riffs that all stand up with their best songs in the 70's but in a whole album context.

It's hard for me to pick highlights, rare for a Kiss album, but it's book-ended by two classics The crashing opening title track contrasts with the massive swaggering groove of War Machine. Keep Me Comin', Rock and Roll Hell, and Danger are some other really great songs. Even the power ballad of I Still Love You is pretty good.

Kiss is a band that has several great songs, but I often find their albums too inconsistent. Creatures of the Night however, is a fantastic collection of classic heavy metal with the band's songwriting at its strongest.

Warthur Even though Music From "The Elder" had gained Kiss support from a number of critical quarters which had otherwise dismissed them completely, that didn't translate into album sales, and it didn't win over Kiss's fanbase to their new direction - and considering how famously loyal their fanbase was and still is, that's saying a lot.

So, Kiss went back to the drawing board and retooled yet again, updating the hard rock sound of their earlier albums and establishing the glam metal blueprint they would follow for most of the 80s. Although their followups to "Creatures of the Night" are less well-loved - partially because of their decision to drop the facepainted theatrics which had defined them for the previous decade - the album itself is rightly treasured as the swansong of the first facepaint era.

Lyrically, Kiss returned to familiar ground, so there's an absence of secret societies of immortals and a big helping of rock and roll, partying and love songs, and musically they even managed to work in a slow ballad that works up to a powerful crescendo in "I Still Love You". But most of the song are like the Kiss of old, only with mildly more aggressive guitars. A lot is made of the metal influences, but we're not talking Sabbath or Iron Maiden here - or even Van Halen, to be honest.

Really, Kiss have always been a pop band with hard rock packaging, and this time around they updated that with a bit of shredding here and there. They've never really been into breaking new ground; their best albums aren't going to blow your mind musically, but they are going to make you feel good. They're the kings of feel-good albums, and whilst "Creatures" isn't their best album in that vein, it's far from the worst.

AtomicCrimsonRush “Creatures of the Night” was a definitive step in the right direction for Kiss who had become poppy, commercial and conceptual. They totally disbanded the progressive rock of “The Elder”, the mainstream pop of “Unmasked” and the disco of “Dynasty” to turn to a heavier metal sound in their songs. The result is their heaviest work in years and one of the last great Kiss albums before the onslaught of 80s mediocrity they were about to embark on sans makeup and costumes.

Unfortunately Ace was a phantom on this album. He appeared on the cover, he appeared in the photo sessions but he was completely absent from the recordings. This was all kept a secret at the time and I was deceived into thinking he had changed his guitar style. Of course the reason is another guitarist took his place, Vinnie Vincent.

Simmons is exceptionally good on this, with some of his heaviest vocals such as ‘Saint and Sinner’, ‘Killer’ and the single that charted well ‘I Love It Loud’. I remember the killer video clip for this, one of the best in the canon. The best songs on this include ‘Creatures of the Night’ with Paul superb on dynamic vocals, and the song rips along at a roaring pace with drums bashing in rhythm by Carr. He is exceptional on this album. Sadly it was the last shining light of Carr’s shortened career as he died of cancer that year.

'Rock and Roll Hell’ is one of the best tracks with some wonderful storyteller lyrics, “been under fire 16 years, just waiting for his time to come... he’s gonna’ fight it, might even steal a guitar, cos he can’t see what he’s become... get me out of this rock and roll hell, I need to get away, get me out of this rock and roll hell.” It is a song about the substance abuse of Ace. I love the riffs on this and it has a strong bass groove.

Another classic is the ultra heavy riffing ‘War Machine’ with Simmons in scintillating form; “Gonna bite the hand that feeds me, gonna turn the tide, set the demons free and watch them fly!” The chorus is dark and heavy and this was a metal sound that the band was exploring to shed their poppy radio sound.

‘I Still Love You’ was the ballad of the album sounding a lot like Stanley’s solo album, one of his best. The makeup was no longer exciting and the band made a groundbreaking decision to get rid of the makeup indefinitely after this album, especially as a new member was about to be announced and Eric had passed on. The timing seemed perfect. However they would never be the same without it. The magic would simply fizzle out. Overall this album is well worth getting hold of, and it marks the departure of the heavy non commercial sound. After this I am afraid it is all downhill until “Revenge” is released.