Happy 45th Anniversary to KIϟϟ’s fourth studio album Destroyer, originally released March 15, 1976.
For a band like KIϟϟ, people always seemed to struggle with trying to figure out if their success was due to the spectacle of the makeup, the pyrotechnics, the elaborate stage shows, or if it was really due to the music they were producing.
Before the landmark Alive! album, KIϟϟ had enjoyed moderate success, but nothing like the landslide that would follow. With Alive! cementing KIϟϟ's stage show prowess, the pressure was on for them to turn that success into a substantial recording career. Sure, all the bombast of their live show would continue, often competing with itself to be outdone. But now there would be a degree of songcraft and production to the music they were creating.
Part concept album, part swinging for the fences, Destroyer is an album of epic proportions that blew the mind of a young kid in the suburbs of Australia when he first heard it.
Laden with sound effects and atmospherics, Destroyer plays like an aural comic book befitting the larger-than-life entities that grace the album cover, really putting the concept of album art front and center. It's this cinematic feel that permeates the album, from the restless driver intro of the full-tilt opener "Detroit Rock City" through to a revolving children's choir that echoes in the album's final refrains. The songs themselves feel larger than life, reaching beyond the speakers and encapsulating you in the experience of being an active participant of the music.
Opening with the heart-pounding euphoria of "Detroit Rock City" with its foreboding foreshadowing news report, the album grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go. "Detroit Rock City" is the perfect album opener, filled with intrigue, a runaway beat, searing guitars, and call-and-answer chorus—not to mention one of the finest melodic guitar solos on record. There's also tragedy afoot in the song's protagonists’ fated car crash death. The wailing siren that links "Detroit" and the cocksure "King of the Nighttime World" is another masterstroke and gave my young ears thoughts that "King" was a story of the afterlife—one filled with flashbangs and pyros, of course.
Part of Destroyer's cinematic feel is down to KIϟϟ pushing the limits, but the lion's share of the credit has to go to producer Bob Ezrin, who brought a sonic scene-setting ability to each song that elevates them out of the groove of the record and into your mind's eye.
A perfect example of this is the haunting radio transmitter conversation between two kids throughout the dark and dominating "God of Thunder." Originally a swinging rocker sung by guitarist and chief lead singer Paul Stanley, the song was slowed considerably and transformed into a signature tune for the blood-spitting demon-god that is Gene Simmons. With heavy bass licks, reversed drums, and atmos-a-plenty, "God of Thunder" is equal parts nightmare-inducing fever dream and classic rock & roll seduction with its marching beat and growling chorus.
But the album isn't straight-ahead rock. There are some risks taken as well, as KIϟϟ expand their musical language with the ambitious "Great Expectations," which clashes a groupie's desire backed by heavy riffs with Beethoven and a children's choir. The song is avant-garde rock, with chiming bells and strings adding to the pomposity. And while it threw diehard fans for a loop, it works and added to the mythos of KIϟϟ.
Crossover was also present in the super-ballad "Beth." An unlikely KIϟϟ track with a softer tone coupled with emotive strings and floating flute, “Beth” finds a raspy Peter Criss lamenting the time away from a partner. The band hadn't really leaned into the soft rock power ballad before, so this departure ruffled more than a few feathered hairs on their fanbase's heads. Originally released as the B-Side to the bombastic rock of "Detroit Rock City," "Beth" found an audience on radio and soon became the band's first Top 10 hit, broadening KIϟϟ's appeal from its core male teen set to a much wider audience.
But there was still Marshall stacks worth of rock anthems on the album. There's teen rebellion primed with promise in "Flaming Youth," with its stacked vocal chorus and addictive guitar licks, the lusty sadomasochistic romp of "Sweet Pain" that rattles the walls, and the show-stopper good time party rock anthem of "Shout It Out Loud."
"Shout It Out Loud," in particular, is the perfect example of KIϟϟ in their prime. All elements coming together as Stanley and Simmons trade off verses, an arena ready groove, unifying chanting chorus, and a sense of never-ending party fervor. You can almost see the confetti falling as the song enters its final refrains.
The standout on the album is the sparse strutting rock of album closer "Do You Love Me?” Filled with questioning paranoia of fame, "Do You Love Me?" is a surprisingly upbeat track that uplifts the listener with every passing bar and soars into the heavens with a stellar bridge and pristine production (bells included).
Closing out the album is the unlisted sonic experiment "Rock And Roll Party" that loops Stanley's classic stage banter with the ethereal boys choir from "Great Expectations." Hearing this little swirl of curiosity was like shaking off a dream state and the perfect way to signal the mix of rock and art that the band was aiming for.
Destroyer remains the perfect KIϟϟ album and is, without a doubt, one of the best rock albums of the ‘70s. It's a landmark for merging the mythos of KIϟϟ with their sonics and extending their reach from heavy rock into a broader spectrum of musicality. It remains a joyous listen, a vital part of KIϟϟtory, and a turning point for the band. It's no surprise that over half of the tracks would become mainstays of KIϟϟ's live shows to this day. It's just that good of an album.
And for those who haven't taken Destroyer for a spin lately, I highly recommend checking out the special edition Destroyer: Resurrected remastered version released in 2012 that saw producer Bob Ezrin revisit the tracks, dust off some of the cobwebs, and give the guitars a little more heft.
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