THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Now celebrating its 45th anniversary, KiSS’s 1976 release Destroyer was originally released in 1976 and is universally considered to be one of the band’s quintessential albums. It was their first album to sell one million copies in its first year, holds the title of being their all-time best selling studio album, and was packed with concert staples and KISS Army favorites including Detroit Rock City, Shout It Out Loud, God Of Thunder and Beth.
For the recording of Destroyer, Bob Ezrin was brought in as KISS’s new producer, helping the band reach new levels both sonically and creatively. The album also showed the band’s growth as musicians and songwriters as they experimented with new sounds which came in the form of the softer side of songs like Do You Love Me? and songs heavy with orchestral arrangements including Great Expectations and their hit single Beth. Following the breakthrough success of 1975’s Top 10 album Alive!, Destroyer was the KISS album that brought them to the forefront of the mainstream and transformed them into global rock icons. For its 45th anniversary, the band celebrates this seminal album’s legacy with a staggering amount of bonus material.
CD 1 includes the original album newly remastered at Abbey Road Mastering, while CD 2 features 15 demos from Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons’ personal archives — nine of which are previously unreleased. CD 3 is packed with studio outtakes, alternate versions / mixes and single edits — most notably a brand-new stripped-down cut Beth (Acoustic Mix) — and CD 4 contains an electrifying performance from the L’Olympia in Paris on May 22, 1976. For the Blu-ray Audio disc, Steven Wilson was brought in to create a first-ever Dolby Atmos and 5.1 surround mix of the original studio album plus the bonus tracks Beth (Acoustic Mix) and Sweet Pain (Original Guitar Solo), the latter featuring an Ace Frehley solo not on the original album (this track is also available on the 2012 Destroyer: Resurrected project.)”
