Revenge

Revenge keeps big choruses while putting thick guitars and rough rhythm up front on KISS’s sixteenth album. With Eric Singer brought in as a full studio member for the first time, the playing of Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons and Bruce Kulick has a hard cohesion — a heavy-textured record that distances itself from the pop trappings of the 1980s. As the ominous, weighty riff of the lead single “Unholy” symbolizes, the record wins on the weight of the playing and taut tension rather than on bright color. The sing-along hooks remain, but the overall sound turns darker and sturdier, deftly taking in the heavy air of the early 1990s. The greatest significance of the album is that, after a pop-leaning period, the band recovered its rock-and-roll feel in a heavier form. Aggressive riffs and tightened rhythm vividly paint a new side of KISS. Rather than drifting with the times, it re-sounds the band’s own core with weight — a fulfilling, representative 1990s record.