KISS: Revenge (30th Anniversary Silver Vinyl Edition)

Revenge is the sixteenth studio album by American rock band Kiss, released on May 19, 1992. It is the band’s first album to feature current drummer Eric Singer, following the death of former drummer Eric Carr in November 1991 and is the group’s last album to feature musical contributions from the latter. Marking a stylistic departure from the pop-influenced glam metal which characterized much of the band’s 1980s output for a heavier sound, the album reached the Top 20 in several countries, though it failed to reestablish the group back in the mainstream and its sales were equal-to or less than its predecessors, ultimately only being certified gold by the RIAA on July 20, 1992.

The album was dedicated to Carr, and the closing track, “Carr Jam 1981,” is a demo the drummer had recorded soon after joining the group in 1980. One modification to the song was the dubbing of Bruce Kulick’s guitar over Ace Frehley’s original work. The main riff of the song was used as the basis for Frehley’s Comet song “Breakout”, from the 1987 album Frehley’s Comet.

In February 1991, Kiss was asked by the producers of the film Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey to record “God Gave Rock ‘n Roll to You II” (a remake of the song “God Gave Rock and Roll to You” by the English rock band Argent). The band agreed and reunited with producer Bob Ezrin, ten years after the debacle of Music From “The Elder”. Gene Simmons was not sure it was the right move, “especially after the bad experience of The Elder“. But Simmons, Ezrin and Paul Stanley rewrote the song, which they recorded at Ocean Way Recording, The Enterprise and A&M Studios in California, with both Eric Carr and Eric Singer: Singer played the drums while Carr, who was unable to play for his health problems, sang the a cappella line “…to everyone, He gave His song to be sung.”

The song was featured in Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey with a 40-second Steve Vai solo instead of the Kiss intro found on the album and was a major success, hitting the Top 30 in seven countries, including the Mainstream Rock Tracks in the United States. Emboldened, the band continue with Ezrin on a follow-up to Hot in the Shade.