KISS — Kiss (review)

KISS — Kiss album cover Album · 1974 · Hard Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
Warthur
Kiss, I would argue, have a real claim to being the true inventors of glam metal. The American incarnation of glam rock always tended to be a bit heavier than the UK version, of course, but neither of its other main proponents - Alice Cooper and the New York Dolls - qualified as metal in 1973. Alice Cooper were working in a hard rock mould with the occasional foray into experimental, almost progressive rock territories, whilst the New York Dolls were taking the Stooges playbook and, despite the glam twist, remained solidly in a proto-punk approach.

No, of those three it's Kiss who can claim in 1973 to have fused the fledgling metal genre with the glam craze to create glam metal, and it's on this album that they did it. Many of the tracks would later get superior (and heavier) live renditions on Kiss' Alive series, of course, but the album remains a wonderful 35-minute party on a disc. Keeping away from experimentalism (aside from the slowed-down outro to Black Diamond), the band debut a number of classic cuts that still form key parts of their repertoire - the aforementioned Black Diamond, Strutter, Cold Gin and Deuce.

But that said, the album's far from perfect. Love Theme from Kiss is clearly filler, Kissin' Time (the hastily-written single that the record company demanded) likewise. And Nothin' To Lose and Firehouse are both kind of repetitive and clunky. Still, when the album catches fire it's a great ride. On the whole, it's a good album but if you've got the first Alive album you already own better versions of the best songs on it. It'd be four stars were it not for that filler, and three stars if the filler weren't mercifully brief.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Gaia Metalcore
RELATIONS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Decievers Deathcore
ORACLE SPECTRE
Buy this album from MMA partners
A Fountain Of Anguish Is Gone Sludge Metal
TIGGUO COBAUC
Buy this album from MMA partners
Colossal Oppressor Sludge Metal
TEN TON SLUG
Buy this album from MMA partners
Tribus Rattus Mortuus Atmospheric Sludge Metal
TRAP RATT
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Relations - Schwarzes Blut - 2020 - Lyric Video
RELATIONS
Bosh66· 4 hours ago
RELATIONS - SHELTER (Official Video)
RELATIONS
Bosh66· 4 hours ago
RELATIONS - NIGHT LIGHTS (Official Video)
RELATIONS
Bosh66· 4 hours ago
ORACLE SPECTRE - VOIDSAYER (OFFICIAL LYRIC VIDEO) [2023]
ORACLE SPECTRE
Bosh66· 4 hours ago
WOMBMOTHER | ORACLE SPECTRE (LYRIC VIDEO)
ORACLE SPECTRE
Bosh66· 4 hours ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed