Monster

‘Monster,’ the long-gestating new studio album from KISS, will come out slightly later than anticipated, having recently been bumped back to a still unspecified fall release date.

Kiss mastermind Gene Simmons told Ultimate Classic Rock the news today (June 11), revealing the band’s 20th studio album will come out “in probably September or October.”

‘Monster’ was produced by Paul Stanley, a move that happened partially because, as Simmons says, “I don’t have the ability and the attention span anymore to do that.” Stanley, Simmons explains, has a “clear mind and time to think in those terms.”

The ‘Demon’ bassist gives high marks to the production work executed by his trusted associate and says that ‘Monster’ “could be one of our top two or three records ever.” He emphasizes that the material was all written by the band collaboratively. “We sat together in the same room for the first time in decades and came up with some pretty classic stuff. You’ll hear everybody in the band singing lead.”

“Everybody co-wrote the songs – that includes Eric [Singer], our drummer. It really is a band record.” Simmons says that they “may stick in a tune or two” from ‘Monster’ into the setlist for their shows this summer with Motley Crue.

‘The Tour’ will launch at the Jiffy Lube Live in Bristow, Va. on July 20, and both bands are promising an equally spectacular show, void of any elements of compromise, to fully satisfy both Kiss and Motley fans. We’ll have more from our conversation with Simmons in the coming days.