It was the first Kiss album I owned. It wasn’t the first Kiss album that I heard, that was Creatures Of The Night. I was just a little kid back then. I went to a record store and thought I’d just buy the Kiss album – I didn’t know that there were plenty of Kiss albums. I was like, ‘Woah! So many to choose from!’ I had no idea where to start. I made the decision from the picture on the cover – I thought Destroyer was the coolest.
It has so much nostalgia for me. It has God Of Thunder – my all-time favourite song from Kiss; one of my favourite songs, period. I remember the first time I was listening to the album, with all the theatrical parts – the few seconds of ‘radio theatre’, if you will, at the beginning [of Detroit Rock City]. I was scared shitless! It was terrifying, but I loved it.
Kiss have so many different albums and so many different musical styles it’s like a deck of cards. Destroyer is different. I think it’s the first big-sounding albums Kiss did. The first three albums are more like rock ’n’ roll albums; Destroyer is a huge album. It doesn’t matter how low the volume, it sounds big. Of course, there are so many production tricks, with the piano powering up the chords, and the orchestrations and stuff. I think a lot of thanks goes to [producer] Bob Ezrin, because the next album that really sticks out in the in the Kiss catalogue is The Elder [1981], which is Ezrin again.
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I still think Destroyer really has something unique in its feel; as as whole, it has something really fresh to this day.
I’m a huge Gene Simmons fan. My favourite member of Kiss. And it’s kind of funny that God Of Thunder is a Paul Stanley song – the ultimate Gene Simmons song is written by Paul Stanley. It’s perfect, there’s nothing that I would change on that song.
Sweet Pain is one of my favourite songs as well. Once again – surprise, surprise – a Gene song. A simple melody, and in the end it has a really cool, off-time rhythm. The riff at the end is really cool, because it’s something that you don’t expect to happen in the song. The bass line in the Detroit Rock City verse is excellent. That lick is something you would have never expected from Gene, if you listened to the first three albums. It’s so technical and non-Kiss at the same time.
I still listen to Destroyer quite a lot, actually. My knowledge of music and interest in new music kind of stops somewhere before the mid-90s. I just didn’t find any more new bands and new albums that I would really get into – I don’t get that rush. Destroyer stands the test of time.
Lordi’s new album Monstereophonic is out now. The band’s UK and Irish tour starts on November 9 at Dublin’s Button Factory.