Gelap Pekat

Canadian concert promoters Gillett Entertainment Group have announced the first Canadian show of KISS' upcoming fall 2009 tour in support of the band's new album, which is scheduled for release this fall. The "hottest band in the world" will perform at the Bell Center in Montreal, Quebec on Thursday, October 1.

Tickets go on sale on Saturday, August 29. Prices range from $65 to $125 (tickets subject to all applicable facility fees and service charges).

For more information, visit www.geg.ca.

Rumored to be entitled "Sonic Boom", KISS' much-anticipated new album has a tentative release date of October 6. In addition, an update on MelodicRock.com's Twitter account states that the effort will be issued as a triple-disc set through Wal-Mart featuring the new album, a CD of re-recorded KISS hits (which was recently released in Japan), and a DVD. However, it should be noted that none of this information has yet been corroborated by an official source and should be treated as a rumor only.

The editor of Guitar Player magazine, who had a chance to preview five songs off the LP last month, wrote about the new KISS material, "Paul [Stanley, KISS guitarist/vocalist] sings his ass off. Eric [Singer] plays some amazingly powerful drums. Gene [Simmons] was finally made to play all of his bass parts (apparently, in the past, if someone had a cool bass idea, he let them play it), and he DOES have a pretty driving sound. Finally, Paul and Tommy's [Thayer] guitars sound HUGE — with some fab riffs and '70s-style solos."

Songtitles set to appear on the new KISS CD include "Russian Roulette", "Modern Day Delilah" and "Stand".

Thayer wrote and sang his first song on the album, while Singer also got his first opportunity to sing a lead vocal on an original song.

Simmons recently told The Canadian Press that there were no outside writers working on the Paul Stanley-produced disc. He also described the album's sound as "no strings, no keyboards, no synths, no tambourines, no nothing — just meat and potatoes."

Simmons confirmed during a recent radio appearance that a deal is in the works with Wal-Mart that will result in an "entire section" of the giant retailer's stores across the country (apparently dubbed "Kiss Korner") being dedicated to KISS.

There has been no official announcement of a KISS deal with Wal-Mart for the band's next CD, although artists such as THE EAGLES and AC/DC have both issued recent albums exclusively through the giant retailer. In addition, AEROSMITH guitarist Joe Perry may have inadvertently let it slip that the band's next studio album will come out exclusively through Wal-Mart.