Masochist Music Review: KISS - Unmasked

What can I say, I’m a masochist when it comes to music.  I like to have complete catalogues when it comes to my favorite musicians.  Sometimes this is a good thing (Alice Cooper, AC/DC) but oftentimes it’s not.  Not only that, but I used to fall into the trap of hearing one or two great songs and purchasing a whole album because of it, which sometimes produced a diamond, but usually only coal.  During this series, we will dwell on some of the albums I have in my collection that are downright terrible.  I will re-listen to them all and give you my impression of them.

Now this is only my opinion, so don’t take it as gospel.  If you like a particular album in this series, let me know, we’ll open up a discussion about it.  I’m always open to discussing the merits of any particular album, and if you have any suggestions (and especially if you have the album itself and are willing to share your views) then let me know and I’d be happy to add it to the list.

Album Name:  Unmasked

Artist:  KISS

Release Date:  1980

Why you bought it:  I’ve been a KISS fan for the majority of my life.  When it came to some of the KISS albums that were not so well received, I generally decided that I wanted to make up my own mind.  Now this only went for the original albums, as I swore off the albums that didn’t feature the “original four” until I was in college (though at the time I was unaware how little involvement Peter or Ace had in Unmasked or Dynasty).  With that in mind, I purchased Unmasked despite all of the negative things that I heard about it.  If I was going to have all of the original KISS albums, than I would have to buckle down and purchase this one as well.

First impressions:  Holy crap were the reviews right on about this one.  I love the rawness of the old KISS albums, but eventually that was replaced with first a disco sound (1979’s Dynasty) and eventually with the ultra-poppy Unmasked.  How could a band that produced hits like “Strutter” and “Love Gun” now be falling so deep down the path of pop purgatory?  I listened to it, listened to it again, trying to find some kind of silver lining to this album, but I eventually shelved it and put Alive back in.  I just couldn’t do it.  Remember, this was before I was even aware of the 80s metal KISS albums (which actually combined pop with killer guitar solos thanks to Bruce Kulick and Mark St. John) so I wasn’t incredibly receptive to the idea of a full pop album from KISS.  There would always be a song or two that was more pop-based on their earlier albums, but they would be offset by “Deuce” or “God of Thunder”.

Impressions upon listening to it recently:  It’s more white noise now than a real solid album should be.  Nothing really stuck out, save maybe “Torpedo Girl” which is super poppy, but Ace’s voice always has a way of sticking out on KISS songs.  I still don’t like it though.

Any saving grace?:  It’s a short album at least.

Was it worth the purchase?:  Nope.  This one is bad all around.  It’s better to skip to the 80s.