Monster

Monster puts thick guitar riffs, simple beats and choruses pushed out by the whole band up front on KISS’s twentieth album. More than complex tricks, it values above all the strength of songs that land in one shot and the feel of a band playing rawly together — a straight-ahead rock-and-roll record that pushes the direction of Sonic Boom further. From the push of the opener “Hell or Hallelujah” and the catchiness of “Freak” to the drive of “Back to the Stone Age” and the weight of “The Devil Is Me,” every song is built from stage-ready phrases. Vocals that show each member’s personality, and simple, powerful playing, move the album along briskly. Its appeal is that, rather than chasing a trendy sound, it reaffirms the fun and force at KISS’s foundation in a modern recording, with a thick, stripped-down sound conveying the band’s native appeal directly. In the mature phase of a long career, it powerfully presents an unchanging rock-and-roll core — a fulfilling record.