Animalize Oklahoma

Animalize

KISS

Mercury Records, 1984

http://wwww.kissonline.com

REVIEW BY: Paul Hanson

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 11/06/2000

KISS was riding high when Animalize came out in 1984. They had just unmasked for the Lick It Up CD, experienced some commercial success with "Lick It Up" and "All Hell's Breaking Loose." It made sense to follow up Lick It Up with another strong release.

And that's what Animalize is: a very strong release. Starting out with "I've Had Enough (Into The Fire)" guitarist/vocalist Paul Stanley takes over with a strong anthem. Following that track comes the main single from this release, "Heaven's On Fire." The charismatic performance by Stanley once again shines. And according to Kiss Online, this is the only track from the post-Peter Criss/Ace Frehley era making its way onto the still unreleased Alive IV.

And then we get to the KISS theory part of this review. My theory with KISS is that Paul Stanley writes songs that he knows are going to appeal to the mainstream, while the songs that bassist Gene Simmons writes focus primarily on being darker and, musically, heavier. Drummer Eric Carr seemed to pick up on this, at least subconsciously, because his drumming always seems more adventurous on songs that Simmons wrote.

I offer "Boomerang" from Hot In The Shade and "Exciter" from Lick It Up as illustration of what I'm trying to get across. His songs are usually darker themed, such as with "Burn Bitch Burn." There is also the ever-elusive female subject in Simmons's songs to which he talks remarkably dirty such as the classic line, "Ooh baby, I wanna put my log in your fireplace / Maybe baby, you wanna get played." Gee, what does Simmons have on his mind?