From: Rene Fleurant

OH, my God ! I don`t believe it, I finally gave in ! Can you blame me ? I`ve been waiting and dreaming for so long, for this moment. I wanted to wait to hear the album when it came out, but after reading all the reviews and hearing so much about it, especially all the negative rap, I had to put my mind at ease.So I recorded all I could on my Mini-Disc off of the net, even with the bad quality of the audio, I think I have enough to make a honest judgement. I`ve been a devoted fan since `78, and I`m thrilled to death that they FINALLY got back together.So here we go fellow KISS fans.

PSYCHO CIRCUS- Well we don`t have to worry about this one, it`s a sure Klassic winner ! Way to go Paul ! A+

WITHIN`- This song isn`t crap ! It`s not Gene`s best, but it sure beats the HELL out of COS ! B

I PLEDGE ALLIEGENCE- Another winner from Paul. This song shows his devotion to his craft, he really ROCKS out on this one. An Anthem type song. A

INTO THE VOID- ACE is back, BABY ! Back where he should be, playing lead GTR in KISS, where he has been missed. This song ROCKS in the Ace tradition. A

WE ARE ONE- My first disappointment. It`s maybe not a bad pop tune, but it doesn`t belong on a KISS album. If Gene has such an itch for this type of material maybe he should do a solo album. This kind of music doesn`t fit his demon persona within the group. Here is some food for thought- One should not try to be more than he is, if what he is, is perfect ! D

YOU WANTED THE BEST- A real good idea that almost works. The four trading lines is interesting. Peter`s ROCKIN voice sounds great ! Killer GTR licks by Ace, but the chorus is not very orginal, it`s hard to believe they couldn`t come up with anything better. They could have played around with the words without necessarily using the title phrase as is. C

RAISE YOUR GLASSES- Paul strikes gold again ! You gotta love this guy, he kept this band alive in the 80`s. Who said the chorus sounded like a PEPSI commercial ? Sounds more like a Coke one to me !!! A part from the overdone chorus, this song is pretty good and catchy. B+

I FINALLY FOUND MY WAY- Well Peter only gets one, so it`s a toss up between a popular ballad or a not so commercial Rocker like GETAWAY. The ballad of course wins ! Surprised ?

This song has Bob Ezrin written all over it (arrangements,production) it`s got a 70`s feel to it, it`s not bad if you like that kind of stuff. It`s good to hear Peter`s voice, he brings soul to the band, just like Ace brings muscle to the music. This song should have been the closing track though. B-

DREAMING- Some have said this song wasn`t strong enough, but I don`t agree. It`s different from Paul`s other three songs, it`s slower and has a good built up to the chorus. which really stucked in my head. A

JOURNEY OF A 1,000 YEARS- Not bad, it`s got a haunting feel to it (which is a good Demon quality), it`s a different type of groove, which I`m opened to. You can feel Ezrin presence again on this one. B

Finally, I think we can be happy about PSYCHO CIRCUS. Let`s remember that these 4 guys haven`t recorded together since `79 and they just got off their biggest tour ever, plus they`re not getting any younger. So the pressure was on big time, and I think they handed it with style But there are a few elements that would make this album even better. Frist of all we need one KILLER GENE song in the vain of GOD OF THUNDER, I LOVE IT LOUD or UNHOLY. Second, YOU WANTED THE BEST needs a better chorus and RAISE YOUR GLASSES a less gingle one. Last of all, and even more important, this album needs MORE SONGS , for it to be a more complet KISS moment. One by ACE, and one with PETER belting out his Rock voice. I have a hard time believing that out of the 20 songs recorded, only 10 were good enough to press. And why doesn`t North America get that bonus track other countries will get? PSYCHO is only 45 mins. long, that`s way to short, there`s 30 more minutes available. So why not use up at least 10 more ? Anyway, on the brighter side, we should all be happy that our heros are back in the saddle, and let`s hope they still have a few good albums and many years ahead of them, because one thing is for sure, they`re going to KICK ASS on tour as usual !!!

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