Bruce Kulick, a former guitarist for KISS, claimed that the band’s 1997 album “Carnival of Souls” was “screwed,” pointing out that despite Paul Stanley’s apparent distaste for it, the album still has a fan base.
In addition to being the last album from the “unmasked” era and the last to include Bruce Kulick, it would be recognized as KISS’s effort at grunge. Following Eric Carr’s illness and premature death in 1992, Eric Singer stepped in to assist finish the wildly underappreciated “Revenge” record, which became his second KISS studio album.
However, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley were already working hard on a global reunion with Ace Frehley and Peter Criss by the time “Carnival of Souls” rolled around. Following KISS’s well-known appearance on MTV Unplugged, in which Frehley and Criss made an unexpected cameo, the seeds were planted for a “masked” reunion with the two iconic members. But neither Kulick nor Singer knew what had been simmering.
In a recent interview, Kulick tells VRP Rocks, “It’s a record that got so screwed” (via UCR). Kulick remembers going to considerable measures to warm The Starchild to this notion of a “edgier, darker Kiss” because Gene’s plan to push the heavy sound created on “Revenge” deep into grunge area wasn’t accepted by Paul Stanley.
That involved devoting a great deal of time and energy to writing songs and creating riffs. In the end, nine of the album’s twelve tracks were credited to the guitarist as co-writers. He went on to say:
“I am aware that some people adore the record, even if [Stanley] is not proud of it. Of course, he has the right to that opinion. I’m still happy of “Carnival of Souls,” but when I think back on it, I wish it had been mixed a bit differently.