Roland Rockover

Do you like puzzle games? Catchy and extraordinary guitar riffs too? And if white-painted faces are also your thing, then you've come to the right place.

[rolandrockover]

Partners in Me

I kinda made it a habit to occasionally compare the new Paul songs from Kiss Killers (1982) with his first solo album (1978). In this context, the analogy of chicken-flavored rice crackers (Killers) versus a proper roast chicken with chips (Solo) (1) always strikes me as more than fair.

In the course of such a well-established routine, it can be easy to overlook the fact that this analogy could, in a way, also apply to Rock and Roll Over (1976), but that certainly won’t happen to me this time, as the first of our two candidates for today, Partners in Crime, is already waiting in the starting blocks. Or rather, its verses do.

Once you line these up next to those from Take Me, you’ll probably notice they’re pretty much in the same vein. Neither of them really run so much as hop and strut back and forth; one’s a bit faster, got more punch, the other’s got a slightly different rhythm and riff elaborations - but who actually cares?

I'm actually just wondering if Adam Mitchell and Sean Delaney ever met and exchanged a few words about their two co-writes.

Side Note:

(1) Personally, I don’t touch either of these, but a good comparison is still a good comparison. I mean, the two bear an undeniable similarities to one another, even though one of them has noticeably less substance.

You don't have to grab into someone's pockets to make the highlighted links work. Just clicking on them is all it takes:

Partners in Crime (1982)

Take Me (1976)

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Boom Gun

Everyone always likes to talk about how similar its verses are to those of Poison's Nothin' But a Good Time (1988) whenever Sonic Boom's (2009) Never Enough is the subject of whatever fan discussion, right? (1)

I don't really have any objection to this statement; it's just that this constant fixation on it has a somewhat reductive effect on the whole picture and thus obscures most of it, but that's not what we're here to focus on today anyway, aren't we?

So how about, just this one time, Never Enough's main riff and its high degree of resemblance to a really pulsating Gene song from Love Gun (1977) for today? And yes, we're of course talking about Gene's musical compensation for never having had a plaster cast made of his demonic genitals, Plaster Caster.

That naturally reminds me of the first time I heard Sonic Boom and this song, and I immediately went Whoa! That’s pretty obvious!

I mean, their characteristic riffs are exactly the same, and of course there’s a slight difference in the number of notes in the rhythm, but do I really need to point that out? The only thing missing is the deep, pulsating bass from the intro.

Anyway, I do love Sonic Boom, precisely for that reason. And instead of wasting years or even decades harping on about how inauthentic this album might be, or even calling it nothing more than a hodgepodge of snippets from a bygone era, why not just give in to the sheer fun of it and simply enjoy it?

Or remain true to that maxim for the rest on your time as an enthusiast - and thus for the rest of your life: No, no! That’s absolutely unacceptable. I have to forbid myself from doing that - and ruin it for everyone else! I simply have to!

As for me, I for my part, my fellow enthusiasts, prefer the love and the devotion.

Side Note:

(1) And, of course, the inevitable addition that Poison kinda adopted Deuce's (1974) intro riff.

The links are a tiny bit highlighted:

Never Enough (2009)

Plaster Caster (1977)

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77 Soul Strip

Why not devote today to that Gene Simmons song that lent its title to Kiss' Carnival of Souls (1997) (1) but, for whatever reason, wasn’t included on the album at all… nor on the follow-up, Psycho Circus (1998). But hey, what are solo albums for, after all? And I don't even mean that sarcastically, because I really dig this one.

Anyway, the band we’re featuring today alongside all our favorite old demon goes by the name Love, and can best be described as ’60s garage punk with a very certain graceful flair. And if you give their 7 and 7 Is (1966) a small listen, you’ll realize that old big G wasn’t exactly exaggerating when he said he used it as a template for his solo version of Carnival of Souls (2004).

By this, of course, he refers to the main riff of 7 and 7 Is, which kinda only appears in response to the vocal verses, yet it is precisely this back-and-forth that defines this song’s tense, high-energy character. Gene harnesses this momentum and turns it pretty much into a carousel ride that may not be quite as electrifying, but is all the more forceful for it.

Why exactly this little, restrained force of nature was denied a proper place on a genuine Kiss album, not once, but twice, remains an open question, especially since this wonderful song fits perfectly into one of the most classic Kiss traditions and contains a subtle yet unmistakable reference to Led Zeppelin.

I mean, Hoses of the Holy (1973) was also left off the Led Zep album of the same name and wasn't released until Physical Graffiti (1975).

And Gene easily tops that with Carnival of Souls.

Side Note:

(1) Even if only in a rather unorthodox and indirect way.

Carnival of Souls (2004)

7 and 7 Is (1966)

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Touching Thrillers

I believe I’m not taking too big a risk in attesting Paul Stanley’s pumping cheesy '80s hard rocker Thrills in the Night from his quasi-solo album Animalize (1984) as a sort of musical successor to his magenta-aural melodrama Magic Touch, which kinda forms the heavy-pounding heart of the otherwise groovy rocking Dynasty (1979).

In doing so, one should be aware that Magic Touch functions as a link in a transformative phase between Paul's first solo album (1978) and his sporadic early to mid '80s Kiss schmaltz, the period in which Paul noticeably got involved in pitches and singing techniques beyond his klassik sleaze-and-shout of the early days… which pretty much peaked on Animalize with, yep, exactly, Thrills in the Night (1).

Be that as it may, without getting too caught up in detailed musical minutiae about which sections exactly resemble others, since that would probably just backfire anyway (2), I can only describe my impression by saying that certain parts of one song simply fit the other perfectly, and recommend to listen to both songs in their entirety and try to get a feel for what I’m talking about.

A magical, thrilling… and somewhat cheesy feel.

Side Note:

(1) A development in Kisstory that I’m only too happy to call Paul’s Cheese Drama and to which I’ve even dedicated a five-part series.

(2) Check out the falsetto in the verses of Magic Touch, with the vocal bridge leading into the chorus of Thrills in the Night for example.

Magic Touch (1979)

Thrills in the Night (1984)

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Nasty Nasty Habits

It may well be easy, from the safe distance of hindsight, to get carried away by the loud, high-powered statements of one’s old favourite rock music, charged with over 30 years of positive energy, but… I still guess Black and Blue had no real idea what a diamond in the rough they were holding when they wrote and recorded Nasty Nasty in 1986.

Gene clearly did, and he was well advised to take its riff and distil it into something decently improved and highly concentrated: namely, Domino (1992), which can be found on Kiss’ exceptional studio album Revenge.

All he had to do was take a closer look at the Black and Blue version and see how it shouldn’t be done, which, as the producer of this track, doesn’t exactly cast him in a better light than the actual band (1).

The question one might now ask is this: did Gene intentionally leave his protégés high and dry back then, only to later make off with the secretly desired fruits of their labour and use them to make a name for himself in a rearranged, smewhat more successful form?

We all know, of course, that this would be complete utter nonsense, but I’m slowly getting to the point where I’m no longer surprised by my own thoughts. It’s starting to come naturally, but I suppose that’s just part and parcel of this sheer endless task.

It’s a kinda nasty habit, I know… but someone’s got to do it after all, right?

Side Note:

(1) Or he simply found true inspiration a little later, but that would somehow take the wind out of my beautiful little story.

Domino (1992)

Nasty Nasty (1986)

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Not Holy

Whenever the subject of Lick It Up (1983) comes up, I guess I seem to never tire to mention, that I didn’t listen to the album in its entirety until a little while after the release of Revenge (1992).

The Kiss album that brought me back into the realm of fanhood after years of abstinence/in oblivion, with Gene Simmons' Unholy, the first Demon Kiss Song after a lengthy dry run, undoubtedly playing a significant role in my rediscovered enthusiasm.

But I’m only mentioning it because the second song in focus today, alongside Unholy, is no less than fan favorite Not For the Innocent, probably the last Demon Song, or at least something pretty close to it, from the ’80s for our favorite band (1).

And yeah, so when I first heard Not For the Innocent, an inner voice immediately spoke up and said: Hey, wait a minute! That’s the riff from Unholy! At least half of it, anyway (2). Is anyone surprised? I mean, I was back then, but my musical Kiss-rehabilitation was still in its early stages, and naturally I had some catching up to do.

Anyway, everyone else probably simply thought: Hey! That’s the riff from Not For the Innocent! But that’s just how cultural connections and those little voices in you head work, I guess - they always get in the way and usually make pretty much everything more complicated than it needs to be.

Like those worms that tend to burrow through your brain.

Side Note:

(1) And incidentally both are songs from the two Kiss albums that are widely regarded by many enthusiasts as the best of the band's non-masked era.

(2) Or a quarter of Master & Slave (1997), depending on how you prefer to look at it.

Man, I seem to be here through the ages, highlighting links for engages… though in this case I just went with Unholy:

Unholy (1992)

Not For the Innocent (1983)

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Kover It Up Vol. 9 - Is That You?

Moving on to the next outside composition, Is That You? (1980), which suited our favorite band so well during their Unmasked (1980) era (1) that, if you didn’t know better, you’d never guess it wasn’t theirs. At least that’s how it was for me during that phase of my life when I cared only little about credits.

Our gratitude for this go, more or less, to Gerard McMahon, himself singer, songwriter & producer, and responsible for a number of TV and movie compositions, most notably Cry Little Sister from the '80s double-Corey vampire flick The Lost Boys (1987)… and to the fact that Unmasked producer Vini Poncia came across a couple of demos thanks to an initiative on his part.

So let’s just take a look at the one that formed the basis for the version we're so familiar with, and which, upon first glance, actually differs very little from it - at least in terms of overall song structure and melodies, since the attitude in it is completely distinct.

The chorus, for example, sounds like a combination of a bad-tempered Mick Jagger and a rather unsensational Alex Harvey. This impression is only reinforced by the piano and even further deepened by the background vocals - so much so that you could almost believe you’re dealing to a heavily intoxicated (young) AC/DC cover band.

Here and there, there's a feeling of incompleteness, sometimes because an entire line of a verse seems to be missing, and other times due to the absence of Kiss's iconic breaks before the chorus (2); or instead of the guitar solo you'll get a sweet harmonica. The vocal bridge was also elevated to falsetto by Paul, which certainly adds a good deal more grace and stylish glam flair to the otherwise brash, masculine energy dominated demo.

Well, the demo is just a bit more angry, which even culminates in a kind of mantra toward the end and defines the actual highlight of this version.

Taking all the details into account, Kiss & Kompany has thus clearly demonstrated once again that they are capable of transforming a rough demo into a musically polished and seamless piece of music that, on top of that, more than lives up to their own band identity.

And that's just the difference between a demo and sophisticated studio work.

But still.

Side Note:

(1) Aka their Liberace phase, or better, I've been trying to establish this very term ever since I was inspired by it myself.

(2) Instead we little solo guitar interludes.

Is That You? (1980)

Is That You? (Demo, 1979)

Kiss Unmasked - Is That You? Gerard McMahon Demo

This is the original demo of Is That You? sung by Gerard McMahon now known by G Tom Mac. The demo was heard by Kiss producer Vini Poncia and

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Kiss & Metallica - Shock the Lights

First off, a word to all Metallica fans who might find this a bit hard to swallow, because Metallica obviously has absolutely nothing to do with Kiss, and all that stuff.

Of course, aside from that The Thing That Should Not Be (1986) and Not For the Innocent (1983) thing, and a coupla other pretty notable overlaps between the two bands, which we’ll all definitely want to talk about in the future.

Without forgetting the matter we’re here for today, but that’s about it. At least for now.

Which brings us right back to the question of what exactly this is all about—and well, it’s really nothing significant, just that one little interlude in Hit the Lights from Kill 'Em All (1983), which bears a not insignificant resemblance to Ace Frehley’s solo segment in the Alive II (1977) version of his Shock Me.

But that’s surely just another coincidence within the relatively limited scope of a genre in which a band like Kiss, almost single-handedly, inspired a really huge chunk of ’80s (Hair) Metal bands to become what most of them kinda still try to be today.

But what can I do about it if none of that is actually real and I'm just imagining it all, if you know what I mean...

... after all, I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings here.

Just hit the highlighted links and let them shock you; just a little bit:

Shock Me (Live, 1977)

Hit the Lights (1983)

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Kash Mir Comin'

Paul Stanley’s and Adam Mitchell's Keep Me Comin' from Kiss’ epochal crunching Creatures of the Night (1982) is all too often cited for its undeniable Led Zeppelin-esque qualities on all sorts of occasions. A fact that certainly has its reasons, to be found above all in Eric Carr’s forceful drumming and Paul Stanley’s over-the-top vocal delivery, and I don’t know what else…

… but thinking about it more closely, what about the break section in the middle of the song?

And that bears more than a passing resemblance to another mid-part from Mr. Stanley’s favorite rock band, and well, they may not be exactly identical, but they’re still close enough to be recognized as of the same nature. And this, my fellow Kiss enthusiasts, surely can’t be a random coincidence. Ask Paul Stanley about it whenever you get the chance, and just pay close attention to his reaction.

Anyway, with Led Zeppelin's Kashmir (1975), which, by the way, is the second song in focus today, things of course tend to stretch out a little more leisurely - and why not, given that the song runs over eight and a half minutes? With Kiss, it naturally comes a bit shorter, but all the more crisp und punchy, and also decidedly more obscene, in keeping with the lyrical nature of Keep Me Comin'.

The only question left for us now is what aspect of Keep Me Comin' doesn't draw some inspiration from Led Zeppelin… though I believe I already know the answer. But I'll better save that one for another time.

As you know, I'll just try to keep it comin'.

The links aren't as soft as cashmere, but they're highlighted and lead directly to the break parts I was just talking about so animatedly:

Keep Me Comin' (1982)

Kashmir (1975)

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I Just Wanna… Uh!

I Just Wanna (1992), as we are all well aware, contains this little, deliberately provocative play on words, which clearly has no intention of going any further than its own commercial ambitions would suggest.

We’re talking, of course, about the kinda infamous I Just Wanna… FUH! vocal line, in which the avoided, yet more or less cleverly hinted and provoked, word fuck is meant to be thought all the way through.

The first question any casual to die-hard Kiss enthusiast might ask, then, is why a musically mature, determined Paul Stanley - at the zenith of his creative powers - might have been moved to include such a shallowy, self-indulgent pun on an album like Revenge - with all its heightened artistic ambitions—to grant such a piece an integral role, of all places, on a well intentioned single release.

Well, maybe it’s simply because Kiss are Kiss, and on this album they wanted to be Kiss a little more than they had been in the past few years, which was just as inevitable and essential as, say, the return of a certain demon.

And with such ambitious endeavors, what matters most is not artistic value, but rather artistic necessity, in order to regain a very specific artistic credibility, that just had previously been somewhat neglected. Band hygiene, if you like.

And since the last Kiss album that really went down a comparable path is Asylum (1985), it wouldn’t be the worst idea to look around for a Paul Stanley song there that might have been an inspiration. So what better pick than, drumroll… Uh! All Night?

I mean, there’s not really a pun there, but seriously, my dear fellow Kiss enthusiasts, it’s really not that big of a stretch to go from FUH! to Uh!, isn't it? (1)

You guys could have figured that out on your own.

Side Note:

(1) We’ll talk another time about where the Uh! might have come from.

I Just Wanna (1992)

Uh! All Night (1985)

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I Expect

This one is a good one.

Or at least today's Gene double pack has the potential to be such, but that really depends entirely on how you choose to view the matter, because neither of our two kandidates has a notable reputation as a krowd favorite, nor will they be found on any personal best list of any linear-thinking Kiss konservative, which anyway only serve to snuggle down deep into their personal komfort zone. If I may say so.

But to each his own, my dear fellow enthusiasts, as I for my part just say Great Expectations (1976) and I Confess (1997), two of my personal favorites. Got interested anyway? Excellent, so why don’t we get together and have a little listening party in our minds’ eye? That’s the most fun way to do it anyway, isn’t it?

The focus here is of course on the fact that both verses make use of one and the same buildup and therefore also follow an equally related dramaturgy. Kinda, as if one and the same person was encountered on two completely different days, and thus confronted with two quite different states of mind, you know what I mean?

This character will certainly remain true to the self-chosen role he uses to define her or himself, behaving only in accordance with the external circumstances. So, the basis and foundation of the respective songwriting remains the same in both cases, only that both strive in fairly different directions, to put it mildly.

It’s a bit like what folks mean by growing up. The older and more conventional they become, the more they develop roles and facades to slip into, but deep down, they essentially remain fundamentally pure and the same. Whether that also applies to the groupie from Great Expectations is open to debate, but it certainly applies to Kiss, at least in this one case.

After all, on Carnival of Souls, they too eventually grew up – even if only for a few moments.

The highlighted links are dying to be heard, by the way:

I Confess (1997)

Great Expectations (1976)

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Lickin' In and Out

I think we need some real experts today, or at least someone who knows whether the non-solo in Lick It Up (1983) is by Vinnie Vincent or Paul Stanley.

I’m only asking so I know who to pin today’s issue on. And yes, of course, today we’re talking about that little something in Lick It Up that was placed exactly where you’d normally find a full-on guitar solo.

But until that’s settled, I’m putting my money on Stanley for obvious minimalist reasons, and I’ll just mention in passing the New Zealand New Wave band Mi-Sex, who I personally still vividly remember from a multitude of Aussie hit compilations from the late 70s and early 80s, and who I strongly suspect Paul might have come across during his first stay in Australia back in 1980 (1) … and perhaps even carried a bit of their music back to his own homeland in his heart.

But I probably don’t need to tell the Aussie reader here any of this, do I? Because you’ve all known this for over 40 years, haven’t you?

Or have you been listening to nothing but Unmasked (1980) all those years?

Side Note:

(1) I personally still recall it well from the Hitwave '81 compilation.

Lick it Up's solo is highlightet, ooh yeah, ooh yeah!

Lick It Up (1983)

Fallin' In and Out (1981)

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Hot Hot Hot

It’s not really that I’m expecting anything from today’s somewhat wacky affair, let alone a revelation, but let’s just slowly approach, completely without prejudice, that oft-repeated claim within the hardcore fan community that the speed-metal-and-roll grenade No No No (1987) is a rip-off of Van Halen’s rather idiosyncratic Hot For Teacher (1984).

Needless to say, the latter naturally holds a much higher status in the realms of rock music fandom, but I’ll mention it anyway, if only for the sake of formality. Still, let’s take a closer look at what’s actually relevant to the matter - and what isn’t.

So what do we have here?

A solo guitar at the beginning of the song? Yeah, there’s also one. A drum rhythm at a faster tempo, too? Yeah, sort of, but it all sounds totally different. And the rest? Van Halen’s swing-inspired elements, or those fleeting bursts of unpredictability and capriciousness? Well, there’s not a trace of any of that. In terms of riffs and song structure, likewise, there’s absolutely nothing of the sort.

Yeah, I believe we all knew that deep down, and yet… but that’s just how generalizations work. Ultimately, however, we have to draw the line somewhere and start moving forward so we don’t get stuck forever in these kinds of misconceptions, even if they’re just about Kiss songs that hardly anyone on this planet knows.

And to briefly bring in one of the main architects of this Kiss creation, albeit only indirectly, didn’t Bruce Kulick himself say that the solo element at the beginning was intended more as a kind of homage, simply from the position of being Van Halen fans, than a rip-off, and that he was actually more consciously ripping himself off with one of his solos on Asylum (1985)? (1).

And yeah, I know I'm being a bit pedantic today, but sometimes you have to be, because where else would you end up? I mean, aside from just going around in circles forever.

Unless you’re into that sort of thing.

Side Note:

(1) Yep, we've already talked about that one, by which I mean the one from Who Wants to be Lonely.

No No No (1987)

Hot For Teacher (1984)

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Comin' Under Alive

Asylum (1985) is one of those albums on which our favorite band managed to pull off the feat of successfully reaffirming its commitment to its own musical identity.

Needless to say, with it they also seem to effortlessly strike a balance between the glorious ’70s and the newly conquered ’80s; at most, I should mention that today’s focus is on the latter, their more recent past - then.

So the result of today’s matter may still have been born in klassik Kiss style, but in this case, it doesn’t quite reach the same level of successfulness as the rest of the album. But maybe that’s just me. I just say because I'm Alive, a joint composition created somewhere between Paul Stanley, Bruce Kulick, and the in the 80's ever-reliable Desmond "I Was Made For Lovin’ You" Child, is actually a real killer - it’s just that the verses somehow refuse to live up to it. Yet they essentially contain components that are anything but bad.

Which brings us to the main riff from the bombastically booming Keep Me Comin' (1982), which unfortunately got a bit out of hand and was crossed with the insane neck-breaking breaks from Under the Gun (1984). Which, in and of itself, doesn’t seem like such a bad idea, if it hadn’t been so half-heartedly hammered out and thus reduced to mere filler material.

This was certainly not Desmond's work, and I can of course excuse Bruce, since he was new to the band yet still ambitious, but Paul… I just guess all signs seem to point into his direction. But this is not necessarily meant to be a judgment on how a Mr. Stanley shapes and arranges his compositions; rather, it is simply another opportunity to highlight the method itself.

But, what can I do if the occasional dig slips out by accident? It kind of goes with the job, you know?

Two-thirds of the links are highlighted, just as two-thirds of I'm Alive are pretty much top-notch:

I'm Alive (1985)

Keep Me Comin' (1982)

Under the Gun (1984)

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Save-a-Way

Today, my fellow enthusiasts, I have a little Ace Frehley double feature for you, centered around a small, clashing to stomping, slightly circular riff-pattern.

Both of todays pieces, despite their quite different approaches, convey a distinct sense of finality. Save Your Love (1979), our first conclusive candidate, gets pretty much straight to the point from the first beat, actually even before the song begins, sending its clear message along the lines of: Never! You better get that out of your head, girl! which kinda provides the ideal contrast to the light-footed yet determined aural dynamism of the rest of the song.

With our second contributor, Strange Ways (1974), things look a bit different. Here, our riff serves as the final act of liberation against something that much feels like a lengthy, dark, and nerve-wracking process to which it had been subjected for far too long. In this context, the riff’s dynamic is striking in its urgency to put an end to the openly perverted goings-on once and for all - until there is finally peace.

Two very dissimilar songs, one riff—albeit just overlappinga little, but still. Besides, I always enjoy it when one song picks up right where the other leaves off, because that’s a tradition here, and tradition can also be a delightful thing, sometimes.

This makes me wonder, what would Tradition actually be called in Kiss-speak? Kradition? Trakission? Kissdition?

Save Your Love (1979)

Strange Ways (1974)

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I Train

This is one of those cases where I think we can safely rely quite a bit on my good old friend, the concept of probability, which puts me in a position to perhaps offer all the Ozzy enthusiasts here a little treat this time around.

Or is there anyone among you who doesn’t like Crazy Train (1980)? Because today we’d like to talk a little about its simple but still impactful dramatic intro—specifically as it relates to what is arguably the most Kiss-like track on Music from The Elder (1981), namely I.

It may not be the most original bass riff in the world, but rather a position-setting standard, yet it’s one that sticks in your mind, otherwise, as I guess, Crazy Train would hardly have become the classic it is, perhaps even the quintessential Ozzy Osbourne classic.

And I don’t think there’s any way in seven hells that there could have been even the slightest chance, not even back then, that Gene, Paul, or even Bob Ezrin could have missed this track, or not realized just how much the middle rhythm guitar part, with the finger-snapping that still rubs so many (very) old fans the wrong way (1), is, not exactly identical but so very similar to the intro of Crazy Train.

So why bother with peas when the whole carrot is right there within reach anyway?

Side Note:

(1) After all, snapping your fingers is pretty uncool. At least for some of us.

I (1981)

Crazy Train (1980)

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Carnivals of Hell

Kiss' alternative inspired behemoth Carnival of Souls (1997) is occasionally said to bear a certain closeness to their gritty garage noiser Hotter Than Hell (1974), or even claimed to be a sort of 1990s version of the latter. This is a thesis that I have repeatedly supported in the past, after all, there are quite a few analogies to back up this assumption (1).

And such insight, I believe, isn't always just about the riffs or the melodies of a song, or their level of heaviness, but in some instances definitely comes down to the attitude - more specifically, the incorporation of some of the vocal styles of this specific early essential album into their then current compositions (2). Or better, Gene's compositions (3).

Which brings us today to Hate and Parasite (4). Gene's brutalo track Hate may draw major inspiration from its somewhat superior precursor Unholy (1992) in terms of riffs and, to some extent, structure, and even may consider itself a sort of sequel to it, but vocally, it’s a completely different beast.

A quick detour back to Hotter Than Hell’s Parasite, a forgotten, mid-sized Kiss live standard that had fallen back into obscurity and had probably not been performed live by our favorite band since the Dressed to Kill (1975)/Alive! (1975) era, but was successfully carved back into the setlist starting with Kiss’ 1992 Club Tour. A status that established itself and has remained in place even beyond the 1996 reunion.

And surely something like that should leave its mark, especially when a band is trying to reinvent itself in light of its own kinda actively re-lived musical… Kisstory, don't you think? So when I listen to Hate’s vocal verses - and refrain I can’t help but imagine that Parasite’s vocal verses must have been a main inspiration for them.

Because, to my ears, my mind and my heart Hate’s chorus - in its vocal style, its emphases, and its excesses - pretty much resonates with Parasite’s vocal verses, not to suggest any real likeness, but rather to evoke the idea that it was created around the same time and with a similar mindset. It’s as if the composer or singer of this piece had recorded this song simultaneously in '74. Except that it wasn’t back then, but in the ’90s.

Luckily for all Kiss enthusiasts… of this album.

Side Notes:

(1) And not least because members of the band itself made remarks in interviews during the recording of the former that could be interpreted as supporting such a connection.

Reagrding this I remember a phone interview right from the rehearsal room, in the German music magazine Rock Hard with Gene, Paul, and Eric, in which two of them drew direct parallels between their new album (which Gene was still kinda promoting as Head at the time) and Hotter Than Hell, not least because of the album’s immense heaviness, and cited only the current production style as a difference.

(2) A stylistic device that our favorite band certainly didn’t use for the first time—just take, for example, an album like Lick It Up (1983), on which Gene was already successfully borrowing a vocal technique or two from… Hotter Than Hell (1974).

(3) I'm confident I'll also find something from Paul eventually. Maybe I already have, but as I often say, I'm slowly losing track of things.

(4) Yeah, of course I know Ace wrote that song; I was just talking about Carnival of Souls.

No highlighted links today, because today laziness is what I am.

Hate (1997)

Parasite (1974)