'Asylum' marks the lowest point for 'Kiss' after loosing the momentum gained from their respectable early 80's releases. The 'Hair Metal' direction seemed the only way to go, unfortunately groups like 'Dokken', 'Ratt' and 'Motley Crue' could do it a damn site better than they could. 'Asylum' also marks the first outing for 'Bruce Kulick', his work on the album is strong especially his soloing and I believe him to be quite an overlooked guitarist. Overall the general feel to the album is too light and doesn't highlight some of their best song writting, most of the material could do with more pace and distortion in my opinion.

'King of the Mountain' opens the account in solid gutsy form, mixing lighter choruses with heavier guitar drenched passages, it all comes together pretty well overlooking some shameful lyrics. Next up is the 'Gene Simmon's' written 'Any way you Slice It', what the hell is all this about, tennis?. Joking apart though it's a fairly "run of the mill" affair, the intro is a 'Priest' rip off, the choruses sound dreary and awkward and the rhythm work is uninteresting, the 'Bruce Kulick' solo is the tracks only saving grace. Better is the chunky, anthemic sounding 'Who wants to be Lonely' and while the chorus gets a bit repetitive there's plenty of passion displayed especially with the fine harmonised vocals. 'Trial by Fire' is another mediocre affair, full of cliché lyrics and blatant choruses. The first half closes with my favourite track 'I'm Alive', the fastest and heaviest number present and apart from being reminiscent of the 'Vinnie Vincent Invasion' highlights some more glorious fret work courtesy of 'Bruce Kulick'. The fast pace continues on the second side with 'Loves a Deadly Weapon', but unfortunately this isn't up to the quality of the previous track, 'Eric Carr's' contribution should not be overlooked, but all told sounds too rowdy and unmelodious. Next up is the chart smash 'Tears are Falling', a basic but effective and well executed ballad come rocker, that manages to balance softer verses with heavier harmonised choruses. After this respectable effort the album loses its way, 'Secretly Cruel' is a lacklustre attempt to bring back the 'Kiss' of the 70's, 'Radar Love' steals heavily from 'Led Zeppelin's' 'Black Dog', but still ends up as an average rocker. The album closes with the dreadful 'Uh! All Night', a comical almost 'Spinal Tap' style song, with some of the worse lyrics you will ever have the displeasure of enduring!

Yes 'Asylum' did go platinum but only on the back of previous successes, with the exception of a couple of decent tracks this is definitely one of the weakest links in 'Kiss's' back catalogue.