This came out in 1998 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
The Rolling Stones may have coined the term rock ’n’ roll circus, but over the years, nobody has personified it better than KISS. With their greasepaint makeup, crowd-pleasing songs and fire-breathing antics, the foursome has always owed more to Barnum & Bailey than Lennon & McCartney.
But psycho? Crazy like a fox, maybe. Every move these guys have ever made has been motivated not by music, but by that other five-letter M-word — m-o-n-e-y, babe. That’s what prompted them to reunite after nearly 20 years. That’s what prompted them to put the makeup back on and tour, recreating their classic ’70s set list and stage show down to the platform shoes and blood-spitting. And that’s obviously what prompted them to release this calculated cash-grab of an album.
Just as their reunion tour was a carbon copy of their classic gigs, Psycho Circus comes off as a drafted-by-marketers attempt to Xerox a classic KISS album. You’ve got all the basic ingredients: Paul Stanley‘s hairy-chested arena anthems, Gene Simmons‘ devilishly growly rockers, a spacy Ace Frehley cut and (Lord help us) a Peter Criss orchestral ballad.
Admittedly, about half of the tracks here are better than anything KISS have done in recent years. Ace’s Into the Void merges Shock Me and Rip It Out. Paul’s I Pledge Allegiance to The State Of Rock & Roll echoes their ’80s fare like Heaven’s On Fire. And Gene’s You Wanted The Best — featuring vocals by all four — is so road-ready you can almost hear the flashpots going off during the bridge.
The rest of the disc, sadly, is a dud — the usual self-indulgent twaddle from Paul, the usual second-rate songs from Gene (but no crotch-rock horndog numbers, oddly enough) and the usual hamfisted thumping by Criss, who remains the whitest drummer in rock. Too bad. Psycho Circus could have been another Destroyer, but it almost ends up being another Unmasked.
