KISS has announced the release of a 45th-anniversary edition of Destroyer, originally released in 1976 and widely considered to be one of the quintessential albums by the band. It was the group's first release to sell one-million copies in its first year and holds the title of being their all-time best selling studio album. Packed with concert staples and KISS Army favorites including “Detroit Rock City,” “Shout It Out Loud,” “God Of Thunder” and “Beth,” on November 19, 2021 UMe will release KISS – Destroyer 45th in the form of a Super Deluxe 4-CD + Blu-ray Audio box set as well as on standard double black vinyl and limited edition yellow and red double colored vinyl, 2-CD set, and digital.
For the recording of Destroyer, Bob Ezrin (Guess Who, Alice Cooper, Pink Floyd) was brought in as KISS’s new producer, helping the band reach new levels, both sonically and creatively. The album also showed the band’s growth as musicians and songwriters, experimenting with new sounds, like a softer approach on songs like “Do You Love Me?,” and tracks heavy with orchestral arrangements including “Great Expectations” and the Billboard Magazine #7 hit single “Beth.” Following the breakthrough success of 1975’s #9 charting Alive!, Destroyer was the KISS album that brought them to the forefront of the mainstream and transformed them into a global rock force.
CD 1 includes the original album newly re-mastered at Abbey Road Mastering, while CD 2 features 15 demos from Paul Stanley’s and Gene Simmons’s personal archives – 9 of which are unreleased. CD 3 is packed with studio outtakes, alternate versions / mixes and single edits – most notably a brand-new stripped-down mix for “Beth (Acoustic Mix),” and CD 4 contains a KISS performance from Paris at the L’Olympia on May 22, 1976.
For the Blu-ray Audio disc, Steven Wilson was brought in to create a first-ever Dolby Atmos and 5.1 surround mix of the original studio album plus 2 bonus tracks “Beth (Acoustic Mix)” and “Sweet Pain (Original Guitar Solo)” the latter featuring Ace Frehley’s original recorded guitar solo that was not released on the studio album (this track is available on the 2012 Destroyer: Resurrected project.)