MetalWord: KISS (Creatures Of The Night) 1982

KISS (Creatures Of The Night) 1982

Front Cover

Back Cover

Creatures Of The Night is best KISS album during this era of replacement players. Not only that, it's the best KISS album of their entire career, and that includes Destroyer as well. Creatures has the most aggressive, ferocious playing and singing that to this day has yet to be matched, although Revenge did come pretty damn close.

Let's get this review started off right by saying that even though Ace Frehley is on the cover, he had nothing to do with the album. He had already quit the band but they decided to put him on the cover to once again dupe us into believing all was well. The pattern continues.

More lies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now that that is out of the way. The reason for Creatures being so aggressive and full of balls comes down to the two new guys in the band: Eric Carr and Vinnie Vincent. Eric's drumming was a complete 180° from Peter Criss. Where Peter was more swing influenced, Eric came from the school of hard rock with his idol being John Bonham. Even though Eric had joined the band for The Elder, it was on Creatures that he finally got to shine. And did he ever shine.

Creatures is one of the all time best sounding drums ever recorded on tape. It is full of thunderous drumming that just makes you piss your pants. It's that fucking good. The mix of the drums was pushed to the front without it overwhelming any of the songs. And on top of that the sound of the drums themselves is still my favorite of all time. Props to Mr. Carr.

The other half of the equation of why Creatures fucking rules is Vinnie Vincent. Where Ace was definitely old school in his playing, Vinnie was a guitar shredder with all the bells and whistles that come along with it. But he was kept in check to service the songs and not his ego and that's why the songs work so well. Also of note, there were a couple of additional guitar players that lent a helping hand in the writing and recording of COTN in the form of Bob Kulick, Robben Ford and Steve Farris.

With the inclusion of both Eric and Vinnie and their playing at A-game level here, Gene and Paul had no choice but to step up their own game. For the last few albums it was all about pop and disco with those two, not to mention the ill fated Elder album. Both sing with a new sense of purpose. They were going for the throat to reestablish their credibility that was long gone by now. They all aced their test and passed with flying colors. (pun intended)

Fave Songs: Every last mother-fucking-one-of-them. Even their lone ballad has gravitas. It's so hard to pick an single MVP here. So, the award goes to the entire album.

Great, and I mean GREAT fucking album cover. All time best ever for KISS during the replacement era.

KISS (Creatures Of The Night - New Cover Version) 1982

Front Cover

Back Cover

I'll jump ahead a few years now for the sake of explaining the second cover of the same album. Once KISS had reestablished themselves and were experiencing a resurgence in popularity, they went back to re-release Creatures with a new cover. Only problem is that they were once again trying to con the fans that may have already bailed on them when it originally came out to push this as a "new" recording. And on top of that they put Bruce Kulick on the cover to further drive home the point that it's HIM playing on the album. Shameful.

I have both versions, the one with the original track list and this current one. The current one I won't listen to because the original track order is so ingrained in my psyche that listening to the other track order is just too jarring for me.

Just like before with Peter Criss, the band had Ace go out and help promote the album as if he were still in the band. So he did a video and a handful of promos trying in vain to air guitar along to Vinnie's playing.

Rating: 10 Stars out of 10 (Absolute must have for any collection. You don't even have to be a fan of KISS to enjoy this one.)

Review by Chiprocks1

Creatures Of The Night Music Videos

KISS - I Love It Loud