Ace Frehley
Frehley's Comet

THE REVIEW

Ace Frehley has been kicked out of Kiss for several years now.

Or let's put it this way, after Kiss's commercial records, Ace preferred to leave.

Better to get smashed on whiskey than to get bored to death.

And so in 1984, he founded his first band, Frehley's Comet.

He takes it easy and it takes a good 3 years to release the first album, and I imagine Ace in recording studios amidst drugs, alcohol, and all sorts of shenanigans.

Ace is like that. I realize that Kiss is either loved or hated, but Ace is not up for debate.

The rocker who influenced generations of guitarists with melodic and repetitive solos that can't help but stick in your ears.

And here is the vinyl spinning. Actually, let's put the needle directly on the last track “Fractured Too”.

An instrumental piece that is so simple yet pleasant at the same time. The classical guitar looping in these over 3 minutes. While the electric guitar, with tiny strokes, gradually causes cracks and crevices and makes its way without force in this cyclical whirlwind.

This piece alone would earn a 4 for the album, but there's more because you can feel a certain energy.

It's a pity for the album's opening track, not for the music itself but for the truly banal vocals. But here is the second track, Breakout, where the true soul of this work begins, with a gritty voice, driving bass and drums, and a solo that demonstrates all of Axeman's compositional abilities.

And so on with all the other tracks, which overall still float.

But the gem of this album, beyond the goosebumps-inducing finale, is the track "Calling to You," a song that can be listened to and replayed multiple times because it has a modern structure even though 30 years have passed. No kidding, the sung arpeggio that launches the solo is pure genius.