In Heat

In Heat is the fourth album, putting thick guitar, springing beats and memorable choruses to the front. Released in 1988, again produced by Gene Simmons. The songs carry the flashy hard rock air of the time while the riffs push with real force. It turned out to be their last studio album of the 1980s. Four records in four years from the debut is a density very much of that era. The run from the opener “Rock On” through “Sight for Sore Eyes” and “Heat It Up! Burn It Out!” shows how much the band valued a live feel. Through “Suspicious,” “The Snake” and “Live It Up,” from “Great Guns of Fire” to the closing “Stranger,” there's no waste across ten songs. Tipped as the next big thing, they never reached major commercial success — but the heat of the playing and the definition of the songs haven't faded. The band then entered a long hiatus, reuniting for one night only on Halloween 1997. A high-energy record that ties melodic approachability to hard playing without fuss.