KISS Alive! IV - Symphony

[Tenbatsuzen]

All right. Alive IV has been delayed for a long time. In fact, one of the main problems about Alive IV was that Gene and Ace were arguing about money, surprise surprise.

So this is KISS with Peter Criss but w/o Ace Frehley, but Tommy Thayer in Ace's makeup.

So here's the deal. It's a two-disc set, recorded in Melbourne, Australia. It's a conceptual album, basically the same idea as Metallica's "S&M" album from a few years ago.

The first six songs are KISS only. It's OK.

The next six songs are the best tracks, as its' KISS' ballads with a "symphony ensemble" behind them. Beth and Forever sound REALLY good with the orchestral arrangements behind them.

The second disc is where the clusterfuck begins.

The ENTIRE Melbourne symphony orchestra comes out, and it's just too much noise. Nothing works, because the ochestra is fighting with the guitars and drums, and it's just a mishmosh of garbage. There's no distinct sound to it, which is a damn shame.

Personally, if they had scaled this back, and either 1) went acoustic with the orchestra backing them OR 2) had a better mix, it might have worked a little better.

So I can reccomend the first disc... the second disc... not so much.