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Ralph Viera (Dr.Fukk) from the band Thrash Or Die (http://www.facebook.com/thrashordie.fl) reviews Creatures of the Night .T he tenth studio album by Kiss. It is the band's last album for Casablanca Records, the only label the group had ever recorded for at that point. The album was dedicated to the memory of Casablanca founder and early Kiss supporter Neil Bogart, who had died of cancer during the recording sessions. It is also the band's last album recorded with Ace Frehley credited as an official member (until 1998's Psycho Circus), and its first album with Vinnie Vincent as the initially uncredited lead guitarist (Vincent would later be credited, but not featured pictorially on the cover, of 1985's reissue of the album).

In an interview with Greg Prato, author of the Eric Carr biography The Eric Carr Story, producer Michael James Jackson dispelled the widely-believed idea that Ace Frehley had no involvement in the recording of the album by saying he indeed recorded a bit of guitar on the record. This is also the last album in the band's original make-up era before unmasking in 1983.
Musically, the progressive rock stylings of Music From "The Elder" and the pop of Dynasty and Unmasked were completely absent from Creatures of the Night, making it the heaviest album the group had made at that point. "I Still Love You", the only ballad on Creatures, was still heavier and darker than any ballad Kiss had released in earlier years. Also contributing to the heavy sound was Eric Carr's drumming style, which was more similar to John Bonham's style of drumming than to Peter Criss', a jazz influenced drummer. Some of the earliest pressings of the album mistakenly contained one full side of John Cougar's American Fool. Both Kiss and Cougar were under the umbrella of Mercury Records at the time. Today, those albums are highly sought after by Kiss collectors.

Creatures of the Night is the first Kiss album to have all lead vocal duties handled by either Simmons or Stanley exclusively. All previous studio releases by the group contained at least one song with lead vocals by another band member. The band released a video for "I Love It Loud", which received moderate airplay on MTV. In it was a stage setup that featured Carr's drum kit as a giant, metallic tank (with an exploding turret). Flames and explosions were also in abundance, as Kiss attempted to produce a video that reflected the music on Creatures of the Night. Frehley did appear in the video as the rhythm guitarist, with Stanley shown playing the seven-note solo.

Three different covers of the album exist: the 1982 original issue, the 1985 reissue (featuring Bruce Kulick, who was not a member of the band for Creatures of the Night, and the rest of the band without makeup), and the 1997 remastered version (same photo as the original, but with minor variations in the logo and lettering). On the 1985 non-make up release, the song "Creatures of the Night" is remixed, and "Saint and Sinner" and "Killer" are interchanged from side to side with each other. The bootlegged Vinnie Vincent cover has not been released on CD, but an extra rare Vinnie Vincent cover has been called Hiding From Tomorrow. There is also a bootlegged LP which shows up on ebay from time to time which states to be a Brazilian Promo version with Vincent in makeup airbrushed over Frehley. Initially this copy fetched upwards of several thousands of dollars but it is nothing more than a common bootleg