Review by Raymond Westland
Release date: 18 August 2014
Recently, former Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley made headlines by locking horns with his former band buddies, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. The relationship between them all has been rocky to say the least with the occasional flare or blurb making its way to the media. However, Ace is mostly known for being a source of inspiration for countless aspiring guitarists and continues to bring the chops with his latest solo outing, Space Invader.
Ace’s heyday with Kiss is way before my time and I never cared much for that band anyway, but after listening to Space Invader it becomes very apparent why he’s such an inspiration for whole generations of guitarists. His skills on the guitar has not diminished at all and he can still shred with the best of them, which becomes instantly clear on tracks like ‘Gimme A Feelin’, ‘Change’ and the title track. His bluesy and rock ‘n’ roll-inspired playing gives the album a nice rough edge with tons of swagger and attitude. Just the perfect type of record you’d play on a long road trip.
However, his qualities as a singer are rather limited and it’s too bad that he keeps on bashing out one rock n’ roll cliché after the other, especially on ‘Immortal Pleasures’ and ‘What Every Girl Wants’. Although it has to be said that Ace is a gifted songwriter with a penchant for catchy hooks and memorable choruses. It’s exactly this that makes Space Invader an enjoyable musical ride even for the more casual listener. It’s heartening to see that Ace still manages to conjure up some blazing guitar work and well-written tunes, but I wouldn’t call Space Invader an instant classic. It’s a typical let-the-good-times-roll type of record. Nothing more and certainly nothing less.
7 out of 10
Track listing:
- Space Invader
- Gimme A Feelin’
- I Wanna Hold You
- Change
- Toys
- Immortal Pleasures
- Inside The Vortex
- What Every Girl Wants
- Past The Milky Way
- Reckless
- The Joker
- Starship
