Carnival of Souls = Oops! All "Unholy"

[Chip Z'Hoy]

Not really but you know what I mean.

Giving this a spin right now and I have no idea what the problem is here, given Kiss's history with the almighty TACO RIFF ("Unholy, "War Machine," "God of Thunder," "Got to Choose," etc).

I also like Psycho Circus so my tastes are already suspect, especially in the realm of Kiss.

But dang, listen to that rude bass on "Jungle." We like Bruce Kulick here, he's a cool guy.

[Chip Z'Hoy]

What in the heck, there's a Ken Tamplin songwriting credit on here.

[pieceofme]

Jungle is a great song.

I really like the first half of that album. But the second half is a little too slow paced and drags. Could have done with something more up tempo in the latter part of the album.

I also like Psycho Circus, but it was one of my first KISS albums. Still ranks about 15th out of the 20 KISS studio albums though.

[whiteowl yesterday]

i can't stand carnival of souls.

[Wild Obsession]

Carnival of Holes is KISS's weakest "band"album.

[Mister Freeze]

Overall, I like the songs on Carnival of Souls. The production kills it for me. Drums sound dry and flat.

Imagine a song like "Hate" having big Revenge-style production.

I posted a link to "Rain" recently as an example of KISS' grunge phase. It didn't sound bad after not hearing it in a while. Great Paul vocal. If this was produced as a heavy blues thing instead of an AIC-knockoff thing, it would be a cool track.

"I Confess" is a better example of "Demon Gene" than "Within".

"I Will Be There" is a more inspired ballad than "Every Time I Look at You".

"I Walk Alone" sounds like a demo Bruce finished by himself in the studio.

[wildside1969]

What in the heck, there's a Ken Tamplin songwriting credit on here.

He worked with Gene back in 1992 and they formed a band with guitarist Scott Van Zen. The band was called Mystery Train. They also wrote several songs for KISS at that time. I Confess from Revenge was one of them. When Gene released The Vault box set he put 2 or 3 of the other songs they wrote together on it.

[Tommy2Tone84]

Not really but you know what I mean.

Giving this a spin right now and I have no idea what the problem is here, given Kiss's history with the almighty TACO RIFF ("Unholy, "War Machine," "God of Thunder," "Got to Choose," etc).

I also like Psycho Circus so my tastes are already suspect, especially in the realm of Kiss.

But dang, listen to that rude bass on "Jungle." We like Bruce Kulick here, he's a cool guy.

Chip, you and I are dude bros in Sludge. Jungle is ruder than rude. Paul’s saucy lisp can’t even ruin it. I Confess is my favorite COS track. Hate is a close second. I was hoping for a rude, nasty, 2 hour show, scaled back theater tour for this record. Instead we got the low rent Holiday Inn convention room tour. It all worked out in the end with the reunion, pad our retirement tour. All of us Acetards wanted to pay a week’s worth of wages to see the coke addict and noodle arms go through the motions on a big stage one last time like it was 1978 all over again.

I’m a big Psycho Circus fan too. I never understood the butthurt hate from the Ace and Peter fanboy contingent. Creatures has ghost musicians galore and all of us tards love it. Ace doesn’t even play on it but his face is on the cover. I don’t get the controversy.

[Metal Heart]

I haven't listened to this album in at least a decade. I will give it a go. I remember thinking Jungle was a decent tune.

[dweezil]

Overall, I like the songs on Carnival of Souls. The production kills it for me. Drums sound dry and flat.

Imagine a song like "Hate" having big Revenge-style production.

I posted a link to "Rain" recently as an example of KISS' grunge phase. It didn't sound bad after not hearing it in a while. Great Paul vocal. If this was produced as a heavy blues thing instead of an AIC-knockoff thing, it would be a cool track.

"I Confess" is a better example of "Demon Gene" than "Within".

"I Will Be There" is a more inspired ballad than "Every Time I Look at You".

"I Walk Alone" sounds like a demo Bruce finished by himself in the studio.

Toby Wright was just the wrong producer for a band like Kiss.
Kiss writing downtuned grunge songs was just never going to work.
That being said, song-wise, the first half of the record is actually quite good.

And I thought "Within" was the best song on Psycho Circus.

[HueyRamone]

What in the heck, there's a Ken Tamplin songwriting credit on here.

He worked with Gene back in 1992 and they formed a band with guitarist Scott Van Zen. The band was called Mystery Train. They also wrote several songs for KISS at that time. I Confess from Revenge was one of them. When Gene released The Vault box set he put 2 or 3 of the other songs they wrote together on it.

Scott Van Zen was my guitar teacher in the 90s. He mentioned that he wrote Spit and something else on Revenge with Gene and had a little gold CD for revenge on his wall. He mentioned he had a song on Carnival as well ( he brought them up, cause I was a Kiss fan, and wanted to learn Kiss stuff) He never mentioned being in a band with Gene called Mystery Train, when would that have been?

[TooOldToCare]

I could have cared less about whether or not "grunge KISS" was hopping on the trend bandwagon. I like several of the songs regardless, and I still think that lineup was musically the best. It just wasn't what people wanted.

As for production quality, I had thought it wasn't finished. I'm probably wrong, but I thought when the label shelved the album, but it was leaking all over the place, they rush-released a near-finished product to the stores to stave off the bootlegging.

Anyway, I rarely listen to KISS at all anymore but will still spin CoS once in a while.

[BernieTaupson]

Nah, as per Toby Wright it was completely finished, all done and mastered in 95.

There is a rumor that the record company heard it and rejected it, hence the reunion tour happening when it did.

There is also another very strong rumor that the bootleg got out from Eric Singer.

The CD was missing Outromental which was meant to be after twenty seconds of silence after I Walk Alone. They just forgot to put it on since it was a hidden track at the end.

[VinnieVincentsVag]

What in the heck, there's a Ken Tamplin songwriting credit on here.

Pretty sure he sang some big vocals on a track as well

[Hellbound]

Not really but you know what I mean.

Giving this a spin right now and I have no idea what the problem is here, given Kiss's history with the almighty TACO RIFF ("Unholy, "War Machine," "God of Thunder," "Got to Choose," etc).

I also like Psycho Circus so my tastes are already suspect, especially in the realm of Kiss.

But dang, listen to that rude bass on "Jungle." We like Bruce Kulick here, he's a cool guy.

Okay this has haunted me long enough. Can you please tell me what you mean by TACO riff?

[FreddyFender]

So I listened to Jungle for the first time just now and actually started laughing when the vocal line came in.

Kiss trying to do AIC/grunge is excellent entertainment. Nikki Sixx would never admit it, but he probably bought this album and thought it was genius.

[Chip Z'Hoy]

Okay this has haunted me long enough. Can you please tell me what you mean by TACO riff?

Fairly sure I'm using the term wrong, but I meant it as a heavy, CRUNCHY riff that elevates the song. Not sure any of the riffs I listed qualify, though all of those riffs are indeed tasty.

[Hellbound]

Okay this has haunted me long enough. Can you please tell me what you mean by TACO riff?

Fairly sure I'm using the term wrong, but I meant it as a heavy, CRUNCHY riff that elevates the song. Not sure any of the riffs I listed qualify, though all of those riffs are indeed tasty.

Gah! It's the crunch! Now it makes sense.

Yeah nah those riffs are indeed crunchy, tasty, salivating, appetising whatever foodie reference you wanna use.

They are definitely not riffs for vegans.

[DemonFilth2001]

Okay this has haunted me long enough. Can you please tell me what you mean by TACO riff?

Fairly sure I'm using the term wrong, but I meant it as a heavy, CRUNCHY riff that elevates the song. Not sure any of the riffs I listed qualify, though all of those riffs are indeed tasty.

Lol. Never heard that term before. Like the definition.

[Tommy2Tone84]

Overall, I like the songs on Carnival of Souls. The production kills it for me. Drums sound dry and flat.

Imagine a song like "Hate" having big Revenge-style production.

I posted a link to "Rain" recently as an example of KISS' grunge phase. It didn't sound bad after not hearing it in a while. Great Paul vocal. If this was produced as a heavy blues thing instead of an AIC-knockoff thing, it would be a cool track.

"I Confess" is a better example of "Demon Gene" than "Within".

"I Will Be There" is a more inspired ballad than "Every Time I Look at You".

"I Walk Alone" sounds like a demo Bruce finished by himself in the studio.

Toby Wright was just the wrong producer for a band like Kiss.
Kiss writing downtuned grunge songs was just never going to work.
That being said, song-wise, the first half of the record is actually quite good.

And I thought "Within" was the best song on Psycho Circus.

Toby probably agreed to do it on the cheap. They should’ve used Ezrin again or used Michael Wagner, Max Norman, Brendan O’Brien or Michael Beinhorn. I’m not sure if any of those producers would’ve agreed to work with them or not.

[Tommy2Tone84]

Okay this has haunted me long enough. Can you please tell me what you mean by TACO riff?

Fairly sure I'm using the term wrong, but I meant it as a heavy, CRUNCHY riff that elevates the song. Not sure any of the riffs I listed qualify, though all of those riffs are indeed tasty.

Lol. Never heard that term before. Like the definition.

Chip made me laugh too and also made me hungry.

What I think Chip is referring to is called a pedal tone. Gene uses them a lot. War Machine’s main riff is a pedal tone. Gene also uses this in the bridge of Unholy right before the guitar solo. He also plays an A pedal tone in the verses of RNRAN. Pedal tones are usually played in a descending manner especially in Gene’s case. But some bands use them ascending like Skynyrd at the end of the chorus n I Know A Little..or Poison in Unskinny Bop which is basically the same basic idea of a song.

Gene doesn’t really do this in GTC and GOT that I can remember. On second thought, the main riff of GOT is kind of a pedal off the E root note but it has more in common with Deuce where does a Blues Box thing than the War Machine riff. In GTC he mainly rides the root note in the Verses then doubles main guitar riffs in the chorus.

[EatTheGlass]

Carnival of Holes is KISS's weakest "band"album.

LOL...let me introduce you to an album called 'Hot in the Shade.'

[jens]

They are definitely not riffs for vegans.

You know that the thing that makes a taco crunchy is vegan, right?

[Hellbound]

They are definitely not riffs for vegans.

You know that the thing that makes a taco crunchy is vegan, right?

Thats true! But I was stuck on the "meaty" aspect of when I make a taco. I also put cheese and sauce in a taco and I will be godamned if I ever listen to a sexy song like "Love to Love You Baby" and start thinking of how saucy it is and tacos at the same time.

Been awake 5 minutes and my day is already ruined.