Creatures of the Night by Kiss

Creatures of the Night, Kiss's tenth studio album, hit the shops on Casablanca in October 1982, and it's the sound of a band that has been sliding through the early '80s deciding to just turn everything up. With sales sagging, Paul Stanley takes the production reins and the greasepaint brigade goes back to brute force: Eric Carr's drums boom like artillery, the riffs come down like a wrecking ball, and "I Love It Loud" is basically a mission statement with a bass line.

It's a record of endings. It was their last for Casablanca, the only label they'd ever known, and it's dedicated to the label's founder and early champion Neil Bogart, who died of cancer while they were making it. Ace Frehley is credited as a member for the last time, while newcomer Vinnie Vincent played lead guitar without a credit at first. And it was the last Kiss album to show the makeup until Psycho Circus in 1998: Lick It Up followed, barefaced, in 1983.

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