LEGENDARY MULTI-PLATINUM GROUP KISS ROCKS THE 50TH “LIVE ON LETTERMAN” CONCERT WEBCAST, TONIGHT - WEDNESDAY, OCT. 10, PRESENTED BY AT&T

Performance Follows the Release of Their New Album, MONSTER, on Oct. 9

KISS’ Performance Will Be Streamed Live and Available On Demand on CBS.com and VEVO

To celebrate the 50th webcast of CBS Interactive’s award-winning live webcast concert series, LIVE ON LETTERMAN, KISS will bring their spectacular, larger-than-life extravaganza of music to the world famous Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City. The concert will be webcast live and available on CBS.com and VEVO, Wednesday, Oct. 10 (8:00 PM, ET/5:00 PM, PT).

KISS, in all their bombastic and unstoppable glory, will perform fan favorites from their treasure-trove of hits along with their recent worldwide #1 smash, “Hell or Hallelujah,” from their new album, Monster, which is set to come out Oct. 9. Showing the band at the top of its game, Monster embodies all that is KISS and the music that first inspired them to pick up their guitars and flame-throwers and don makeup to entertain millions.

Having already broken box office records set by The Beatles and Elvis, KISS celebrates their 40th anniversary in 2013 with more than 28 U.S. gold albums, the most gold records for any American rock band, with 40 million sales in the U.S. and a total exceeding 100 million worldwide. Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, with longtime members guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer, return stronger than ever with their new album.

The LIVE ON LETTERMAN franchise, which has surpassed 130 million views to date on CBS.com and VEVO, marks its 50th webcast with KISS’ performance. Past performances have included some of the most established bands and musicians across the globe, from its first event which featured Pearl Jam, to Paul McCartney on the marquee of the Ed Sullivan Theater, Foo Fighters, Katy Perry, Coldplay, Adele and more, all staged in an intimate and dynamic setting for worldwide followers to enjoy.

Fans can watch KISS’ webcast live or on-demand on CBS.com at http://www.cbs.com/shows/liveonletterman/. Additionally, the show is available live and on-demand through CBS properties, broadcast on select CBS RADIO stations, viewable live on CBS's JumboTron in Times Square, as well as via a live audio stream on Radio.com's mobile applications. The webcasts are also offered on VEVO, the world's leading all-premium music video and entertainment platform, through VEVO.com and its free mobile apps for iPhone, iPad and Android. The on-demand performances areavailable across the entire VEVO platform, including VEVO.com, its mobile apps, mobile website, and syndication partners.

KISS’ LIVE ON LETTERMAN webcast will precede their appearance on the LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN, which will be broadcast that same evening, Wednesday, Oct. 10 (11:35 PM-12:37 AM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Everyone's talking about "MONSTER!" Here are some review excerpts...
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Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley are the only original members still onboard, but “Monster,” Kiss’ 20th studio album, feels like something from the band’s mid-‘70s heyday. Recorded onto analog tape, it’s a thick-sounding, bighearted record about partying and loving, performed with a surprising amount of ferocity by musicians who are now in their early 60s.

With Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer filling the spots left vacant by Peter Criss and Ace Frehley, “Monster” roars from start to finish. Longtime fans will point out the obvious parallels to earlier eras — “Wall of Sound” and the metallic “Freak” both model themselves after the band’s 1992 album, “Revenge,” while “Hell or Hallelujah” boogies like a 1970s classic — but “Monster” won’t make you pine for a time long since past. Instead, it’ll restore your faith in the band’s 2012 reboot.

- Ellie Goulding, Washington Times
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Nearly 40 years after first slapping on the makeup, donning the costumes and changing forever the way a live concert is performed, Kiss can still bring it.

"Monster" is the caped crusaders' 20th studio album, and one that fans of old school '70s classic rock will be just as comfortable with as those who cut their teeth on later material.

It opens with a bang in "Hell or Hallelujah," a fast-paced rocker that could be the band's best concert opener since "I Stole Your Love," way back in 1977 (though they put it in the middle of the set this summer).

Imagine a mash-up of "Helter Skelter" and Kiss' 1992 track "Spit," and you've got "Wall of Sound," a dramatic, ground-pounder. "Freak" uses a grungier distorted sound to showcase the band's longstanding philosophy of not caring what anyone else thinks of them. And "Back To The Stone Age" features Eric Singer's pounding drums with a beat reminiscent of the Stones' "Live With Me."

- Wayne Parry, Associated Press
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In the same way it's hard to criticize a mutt for eating scraps off the floor, slobbering or getting lusty on a random person's leg, who's to begrudge KISS releasing another record about thunder, sex, lightning, outcasts, hell, rock 'n' roll, thunder and sex?

Given this truth, KISS' new album, "Monster," is a fantastic dog: Protective, loyal, fun to be around but ferocious when it needs to be.

As the New York-born band has done since its rise among the proto-metal glam rock movement of the early '70s, on "Monster" KISS focuses on primal riffs, heavy bass lines, simple metaphors, trigger-happy solos, Stanley's delirious wail and Simmons' gruff bark. It's monosyllabic music to sing along to, with drum fills perfect for air-rolls and double-kick foot stomps. It's way better than the last Darkness record and stomps the hell out of Radiohead and/or Muse-like pomposity.

- Randall Roberts, Los Angeles Times

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"Monster" really and genuinely captures the sound of the classic rock of the late 70's.

It is really unreal on how they genuinely make this album sound like it was written and recorded in another time. This is absolutely the only album I've ever heard where I felt nostalgic on the first listen. The guitar work and drums are well executed, the songwriting fits right in with what KISS is trying to accomplish, and honestly, this is the best album released by KISS in a long time. I've actually been pretty impressed with the guitar work on the album – it is some of the best since their first live album, Alive!

- Brandon East, Ultimate Guitar

By Sebastián Esposito
Translated from Spanish for KISSonline by Jill Cataldo

With a forty-year career, the band has a new album, Monster, and comes to River Plate on November 7

MONTERREY- If there is any more emotional experience than seeing KISS, it's seeing KISS in Mexico. The affinity that these four superheroes of rock have for their historic fan club, the KISS Army, is most emblematic when the band talks about their relationship with their "fu**ing" great Latin American fans. The adjective belongs to Paul Stanley and, though it wound our sensitivity up, it also made us walk taller feeling that we are the "best audience in the world." A few words from Gene Simmons affirmed the sentiment with elegance, joking "But the Argentine public is at the same height," adding, "It's very passionate."

Gene Simmons, the man with the longest tongue in rock, musician and businessman, will celebrate 40 years with his band this January - and after tomorrow, KISS will launch their twentieth studio album, Monster.

Last Monday, the painted faces landed at the Arena Monterrey. That was the end of a 40-date tour of North America with Mötley Crüe, playing earlier in Foro Sol in Mexico City. That show was about to be cancelled due to rain, which flooded the area adjacent to the stadium. That night, the doors opened at 9pm, and the night extended longer than planned, but the shows were not canceled and more than 50 thousand people enjoyed their prize. Here in Monterrey, the climate and the number of fans was different, but the end result was similar: a strong set with a good handful of classics, explosions, several surprises and this author located in the third row, that, on more than one occasion, had the feeling of enjoying a custom, personalized show.

After Paul Stanley (vocals and guitar), Gene Simmons (vocals and bass), guitarist Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer (drummer) left their personalities in the makeup room to become the Starchild, the Demon, the Spaceman) and the Catman, we met with them to talk about their new album -- its history and a fantasy that they themselves have already discussed publicly: a KISS after KISS, a formation that does not include Stanley and Simmons, but makes new chapters in its history.

The first thing the four KISS members say about "Monster" is that does not sound like any other album by KISS. But how does that a band that already recorded 19 albums make its mark? "First and foremost, we had to make sure that all the songs were new, not old songs," says Stanley. "In other words, we began to write from scratch, without ideas or anything that came from the past. If a song wasn't good enough for the previous album, why would it be for this? Songs are not like wine -- they do not improve with time. If they are bad today, they're likely to be bad tomorrow."

- Did the four of you write together exclusively?

Paul Stanley: We wrote all the songs together, without outside writers. We wanted to raise the bar in making this album. Many bands who have long careers fall into the temptation of repeating formulas. We wanted to record the album that we never made, which was in tune with our heroes, the bands and the artists who influenced us. It is no coincidence that Monster is called "Monster" - the name was chosen for a reason, and is it a monumental album from beginning to end.

LARGER-THAN-LIFE ‘MONSTER’ INVADES NEW YORK - KISS RETURNS HOME TO KICK OFF THEIR ‘MONSTER’ ALBUM RELEASE

Whirlwind, non-stop TV and radio and personal appearances for fans to experience KISS extravaganza

“KISS’ 20th studio album ‘Monster’ is scary good” – Associated Press, 2012

“KISS unleashes ferociously fun 'Monster'” – Los Angeles Times, 2012

Showing the band at the top of its game, Monster, out October 9, embodies all that is KISS and the music that first inspired them to pick up their guitars and flame-throwers and don makeup to entertain millions. Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, with longtime members guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer, return stronger than ever with their new Monster album to continue the larger-than-life spectacular, known as, KISS.

NY natives, KISS, in all their bombastic and unstoppable glory kicks off the first of their performances in New York as the special guest commemorating the 50th Live On Letterman Webcast, October 10. Only KISS can bring an enormous, dazzling, theatre worthy stage show complete with fire and blood to Broadway to the historic Ed Sullivan Theater. The hottest ticket in town, KISS will perform fan favorites from their treasure trove of hits along with their recent worldwide #1 smash “Hell or Hallelujah” from Monster. Fans can watch KISS’ webcast live or on-demand on CBS.com at http://www.cbs.com/shows/liveonletterman/, a live audio stream on Radio.com's mobile applications and available across the entire VEVO platform, including VEVO.com, its mobile apps, mobile website, and syndication partners.

The next morning, October 11, the band gears up for their performance on Good Morning America. Fans can come get their faces painted in honor of their favorite KISS member and a few early fans will be able watch them live from the studio.

Immediately after Good Morning America, the band travels to the SiriusXM studios where SiriusXM’s exclusive KISS Town Hall event with the band will go LIVE and allow lucky listeners the opportunity to ask the band questions themselves in an intimate setting. “SiriusXM’s Town Hall with KISS,” the two-hour broadcast event, will air live on Hair Nation, channel 39, on Thursday, October 11 at 12:00 pm ET. After the live broadcast, “SiriusXM’s Town Hall with KISS” will be available on SiriusXM On Demand for subscribers listening via the SiriusXM Internet Radio App for smartphones and other mobile devices or online at siriusxm.com. The special will also be rebroadcast on “Scare Nation,” the all-KISS limited-run channel on Saturday, October 27 at 12:00 pm ET. “Scare Nation” will air Friday, October 26 starting at 6:00 pm ET through Monday, October 29 at 3:00 am ET on channel 39.

The debut single by KISS “Hell Or Hallelujah” from Monster recently peaked at #1 Classic Rock, #5 Mainstream Rock and #39 Active Rock. It was the first single by KISS to chart on the current-based Active Rock chart in 14 years! The group has just launched their heavily-anticipated second radio single “Long Way Down” to rock radio as well – as the demand for contemporary KISS material continues to build at a variety of media outlets.

Fans can also wake up with a KISS all week, when morning show radio listeners all across the country can tune in and hear interviews with all four band members, through Premiere Radio Networks and various local stations and nationally syndicated radio outlets.

By Steve Appleford
Photo by Neil Lupin/Redferns

Nearly four decades on, Kiss remain an ongoing and unlikely rock & roll success story, standing high on platform heels and painted in kabuki black-and-white, unloading fireballs and grinding hard-rock hooks around the world. Led by founding members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, Kiss has been back touring arenas and stadiums since the mid-Nineties, but the onetime platinum-selling quartet finally returned to the studio as a fully functioning recording unit with 2009's Sonic Boom.

The band has a new album, Monster, released today by Universal, and produced by singer-guitarist Stanley. He's taken the leadership role in the studio, and he wouldn't have it any other way, guiding Simmons, guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer to a sound that's loud and swaggering. It's given Kiss some new material to chew on for their ongoing road show, which just ended a successful tour across North America with Mötley Crüe.

"We're best off prowling the stage," Stanley tells Rolling Stone, during an interview about the new album, the current state of Kiss and the music that first inspired him. The makeup hasn't changed much since the Seventies, and neither has the attitude: "It's the embodiment of everything I am and have nurtured and created. I look in the mirror and go, 'Hey, there's Paul Stanley – he's so fu**in' cool!'"

You took the producer's role beginning with the last record, Sonic Boom. What did that mean for Kiss?

Democracy in the studio is overrated. What you wind up getting is compromise on everybody's part, which means that nobody has their way, and that means nobody wins, including the fans. I thought it was really important, and in my mind it was a deal-breaker – if I wasn't going to produce the albums, we weren't going to do albums at this point. Somebody had to set parameters and boundaries and voice expectations. To make sure everybody was committed, some things had to be spelled out.

It didn't change anything. I think we had more fun. All the cards were on the table and everybody knew what the game plan was. We're more productive. I never thought being the producer was being the dictator. It means being the director and being the coach. It's a way of keeping everybody focused on the goal, and also having final say. Everybody can be in the same car, but somebody has to drive.

The wait is over...KISS MONSTER, the band's highly anticipated 20th studio album, is available everywhere now!

iTunes: CLICK HERE to order KISS MONSTER at iTunes. iTunes version Includes exclusive bonus track “Right Here Right Now!”

AMAZON: CLICK HERE to order KISS MONSTER at Amazon.com

BEST BUY: CLICK HERE to order KISS MONSTER at Best Buy. Best Buy version includes exclusive 3D lenticular cover and custom KISS ARMY membership!

WALMART: CLICK HERE to order KISS MONSTER at Walmart. Walmart version includes Limited Edition 'ZinePak!

I haven’t been this excited about a KISS CD since Psycho Circus back in 1998. Being a KISS fan for over 35 years, I found myself enjoying their 2009 release, Sonic Boom ,but feel Monster is a more unified and stronger sounding effort with the band having found their unique writing style.

Through-out their career KISS have racked up 28 U.S. gold albums, along with 40 million U.S. and 100 million in world sales. Monster will be the bands 20th studio album in their historic forty year career and is set to be unleashed to the world on October 10, 2012.

This incantation of the band with Gene Simmons on bass, Paul Stanley on rhythm guitar, Tommy Thayer on lead guitar and Eric Singer on drums has been together for roughly 11 years. Monster will be their second release together. It combines the KISS flair and catchy hooks from the early ’80s CD with the sonic crunch and song writing bite from their early ’90s releases.

The 13 tracks on Monster (including the bonus track) range from the raucous prehistoric pop tune of “Back to the Stone Age” with Gene on vocals to the heavier rally cry for individually and independence on “Freak” with Paul taking the helm. All songs on this CD have an infectious groove that lasts with you even after the first listen just like their first single, a full-throttle rocker, “Hell or Hallelujah”. As you would come to expect with any KISS song, the lyrics are laced with sexual innuendos and overtones.

Metal Express Rating: 9.5/10

by: MICK BURGESS

With their garish black, white and silver face paint and outrageous costumes with six inch stack heeled platform boots, KISS may just be the most instantly recognizable band on the planet. Hated by the critics yet adored by their fans, almost four decades in the business and 100 million album sales suggests that they've done something right and now they are back with their 20th studio album, Monster.

For a band who only a few years ago proclaimed that their recording days were over only to hit back with Sonic Boom, an album that saw them kept of the top of the US album charts by Michael Buble, KISS are on something of a roll.

In the past KISS have sometimes been guilty of straying too far from their signature sound, with forays into Disco/Pop territory with Dynasty, Hair Metal (Animalize), Grunge (Carnival of Souls) and even Symphonic Rock (the intriguing but ultimately unsuccessful The Elder) but Monster sees KISS heading in a heavier, darker direction while still retaining those classic KISS elements that has seen 28 gold records come their way, a record haul for an American band and second only to The Beatles.

There`s plenty of thumping stop/start Rock `n` Roll riffs, screaming, staccato, Chuck Berry inspired guitar solos, fist pumping anthems and clanking cowbell. It`s all here in abundance, wrapped up with some of the tastiest melodies around.

KISS is set to release their new album, Monster, tomorrow, October 9, and Paul Stanley as co-producer of the album said that not writing it as a foursome was a deal breaker.

This is 40 odd minutes of battle cries, of straight-up, hard-assed, flesh-and-bone rock music.

By Ronnie McCluskey / live4ever

American hard rockers Kiss have enjoyed something of a renaissance in recent years; 2009’s ‘Sonic Boom‘ – which was the band’s first record of original material in over a decade, and also the debut studio release of its current line-up – recalled their glory days, right down to its comic-style cover art.

Lead single ‘Modern Day Delilah’ was immediately hailed as a classic, and they took no prisoners as they embarked on a glorious 36-date European tour.

Looking to build on that momentum (producing an album every three years might seem routine for the majority of bands, but then not many have been going strong for almost 40 years), ‘Monster‘, Kiss’ 20th studio album, is more of the same – straight-up rock and roll that pays homage to their 70s pomp and stays true to principles that have seen them rack up album sales in excess of 100 million, including 28 gold records, during a storied, globe-trotting career.

The ‘Sonic Boom’ formula is a clever one to follow. The band have once again refrained from inviting songwriters to pitch ideas as they have in the past; all tracks were written by Kiss, with emphasis on greater involvement for guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer. Paul Stanley, meanwhile, has resumed co-producing duties with Greg Collins.

Just like on their last album, battles lines are drawn from the off – the lead single and best track throttles out of the speakers first thing. ‘Hell Or Hallelulah’ is vintage Kiss – a fat guitar riff, big, bolshy chorus and energy to spare. Tommy Thayer also rips a killer solo – this song has everything and doesn’t let up for a micromoment. ‘Wall of Sound’ is similarly thumping, with crunching guitars and Simmons growling through lead vocals.

KISS will bring their 'MONSTER' Tour to Sweden for two massive shows next June! The band will perform at the brand new Friends Arena Stadium in Stockholm on June 1st, and then rock the Sweden Rock Festival in Solvesborg on the 6th!

Tickets for the Stockholm show go on sale this Friday, October 12th. Tickets are on sale now for the Sweden Rock Festival at www.swedenrock.com.

JUNE 1 - FRIENDS ARENA STADIUM - STOCKHOLM

JUNE 6 - SWEDEN ROCK FESTIVAL - SOLVESBORG

Are you ready for tomorrow's release of the KISS MONSTER album? Well check out two full songs from the album now. ENJOY!

"Long Way Down" and "All For The Love Of Rock & Roll!"



KISS MONSTER will be released next Tuesday, October 9, 2012! The band's highly anticipated 20th studio album is now available for pre-order from iTunes and Amazon.

CLICK HERE to pre-order KISS MONSTER at iTunes

CLICK HERE to pre-order KISS MONSTER at Amazon.

Here's a photo of Tommy rocking up close at Alpine Valley in East Troy, Wisconsin during 'THE TOUR!"



_{Photo by Keith Leroux for KISSOnline}

KISS MONSTER raises the rock-bar even higher with the Special Edition CD format featuring an exclusive collectible 3D-hologram cover. The awe-inspiring MONSTER: Special Edition is strictly limited to the album’s first pressing, and will never be repeated. Pre-order yours now worldwide at http://umusic.ly/KISSMonster3D.

MONSTER is also available on CD, 180-gram heavyweight vinyl LP and download…

http://umusic.ly/KISSMonsterCD
http://umusic.ly/KISSMonsterLP
http://umusic.ly/KISSMonsteriTunes

KISS IS EVERYWHERE!

Check out this Costa Coffee TV commercial featuring "I Was Made For Lovin' You!"

Thanks to Andy Fields for sending the clip to KISSOnline!