Genre: Space/Hard Rock
Country: U.S.A.
Label: Steamhammer/SPV
Year: 2014
Ace Frehley returns after 2009’s “Anomaly” with “Space Invader”, and yes he can still write good music! While not actually a masterpiece, it’s a pretty good album, honest hard rock by one of the masters of the genre and fans will be more than satisfied with what’s going on here.
The record opens with “Space Invader”, a good catchy song and the first single, “Gimme A Feeling”, follows again with a catchy chorus and some good guitar work. “I Wanna Hold You” is a happier song, quite pleasant if somewhat forgettable and is contrasted by “Change”, a fine heavier song. Keeping the heaviness intact, in “Toys” there’s some great guitar work while it reminds me of something I can’t quite put my finger on. “Immortal Pleasures” is a nice, lighter ballad-y track and is followed by one of my favorites here, “Inside The Vortex” moves toward space and stoner rock territory and it’s all the better for it. This actually seems to be a pattern here; while the straightforward hard rockers are pretty good, the real standouts seem to be the space-themed songs. This is also the case with “Past the Milky Way” which I loved, since it actually made me feel kind of lost in space, the vocals are great and fitting and the guitar work once again is amazing. The album closes with “The Joker”, a cute cover of the Steve Miller Band song and what could be the best song on “Space Invader”, titled “Starship”. It’s instrumental, guitar and bass guitar really shine here, there are some impressive transitions accompanied beautiful solos and melodies.
Overall, it’s a very good album and it will definitely please the Spaceman’s (and Kiss) fans. Guitar work is, as one would expect, spectacular and while the vocals are fine, I do find that they fit the space songs better than the hard rockers. There’s a couple of fillers here and there, but if you are a fan of the genre give it a try and you won’t be disappointed.
