Animalize

Animalize pushes the non-makeup era’s hard rock with faster, more aggressive guitar and big choruses on KISS’s twelfth album. Paul Stanley’s singing breaks through with flair, and Mark St. John’s guitar adds sharp tension to the songs — a record that actively takes in the flashy sound of the 1980s. Centered on the lift of “Heaven’s on Fire,” from the speed of “Thrill in the Night” and the aggression of “Under the Gun” to the drive of “Get All You Can Take,” the songs are built to catch fire instantly live, joining bright melody with hard guitar to give off the melodic-hard appeal particular to this period. Its strength is that, while absorbing the era’s flashy trends, it never loses KISS’s plain, direct rock-and-roll power, and a dramatic cut like “While the City Sleeps” adds depth. A major commercial success, it is a fulfilling record that clinched the momentum of the non-makeup era.