🎃 Episode 113 is here with our Halloween special! This week, we’re rocking out to Creatures of the Night by KISS. Does this iconic album bring the chills and thrills? Tune in for our spooky take on this KISS classic! 👻 Stay Tuned!

Creatures of the Night is the tenth studio album by American rock band KISS, released in 1982. It was the band’s last for Casablanca Records, the only label for which Kiss had recorded up to that point. The album was dedicated to the memory of Casablanca founder and early Kiss supporter Neil Bogart, who had died of cancer during the recording sessions. It is also the band’s last album recorded with Ace Frehley credited as an official member and their first album with Vinnie Vincent, as the initially uncredited lead guitarist. Vincent would later be credited but not featured on the cover of the 1985 reissue of the album. It was also KISS‘ last album to feature the band with their trademark makeup until the release of Psycho Circus in 1998.

By 1982, KISS‘s popularity in the US had plummeted due to changing musical tastes and their move away from the anthemic hard rock of their earlier material. 1979’s Dynasty, while commercially successful, alienated many fans with the disco-flavored track “I Was Made for Lovin’ You.” 1980’s Unmasked fell further into a pop rock/power pop oriented sound and was Kiss’s first album not to achieve platinum status since 1975’s Dressed to Kill. The band did not even tour the US for Unmasked, and it also soon faced its first lineup change: founding member Peter Criss, who had not participated in any of the Unmasked recording sessions, officially left Kiss in 1980 and was replaced by Eric Carr.

The album represented a conscious effort by KISS to return to the hard rock style that had helped them achieve commercial success with Destroyer (1976) and Love Gun (1977). The first key ingredient was songwriter/guitarist Vinnie Vincent, who was soon to replace Frehley as the band’s new lead guitarist after being introduced to the band by album co-writer Adam Mitchell.

Musically, the progressive elements of Music from “The Elder” and the pop affectations of Dynasty and Unmasked were completely absent from Creatures of the Night, making it the heaviest album the group had made at that point. Paul Stanley called KISS “a heavy metal band” in 1982. “I Still Love You”, the only ballad on Creatures of the Night, was still heavier and darker than any ballad KISS had released in earlier years. Also contributing to the heavy sound was Carr’s drumming style, which was more similar to John Bonham’s drumming than to Criss’ jazz-influenced style. Creatures of the Night is the first Kiss album to have all lead vocal duties handled by either Gene Simmons or Stanley exclusively. All previous studio releases by the group contained at least one song with lead vocals by another band member.

KISS
Paul Stanley – vocals, rhythm guitar on tracks 1, 3, 5 & 7, producer
Gene Simmons – vocals, bass (except tracks 1, 5 & 7), rhythm guitar on “War Machine”, producer
Eric Carr – drums, percussion, bass on “I Still Love You”, backing vocals
Vinnie Vincent – lead guitar on tracks 3, 5 & 9; all guitars on tracks 2, 6 & 8

Additional Musicians
Ace Frehley – lead guitar (credited, but does not play)
Robben Ford – lead guitar on “I Still Love You”; all guitars on “Rock and Roll Hell”
Steve Farris – lead guitar on “Creatures of the Night”
Jimmy Haslip – bass on “Danger”
Mike Porcaro – bass on “Creatures of the Night”
Adam Mitchell – additional guitar and end lick on “Creatures of the Night”
Dave Wittman – backing vocals on “I Love It Loud”

Production
Michael James Jackson – producer
Dave Wittman – engineer
Kevin Eddy – assistant engineer, additional recording
Niko Bolas – drum recording
Rich Bosworth – drum recording assistant
Michael Barbiero – drum recording on “Keep Me Comin'”
Ricky Delano, David Bianco – additional recording
Bob Clearmountain – mixing at Power Station, New York City
George Marino – mastering at Sterling Sound, New York City

Artwork
Bernard Vidal – cover photography
Howard Marks Advertising – design

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