Kiss - Hotter Than Hell

Kiss cut their second album in a hurry, and it shows in the best way: Hotter Than Hell is heavier, murkier and meaner than the debut that came before it.

Released in 1974, it was the band's first record made outside New York, tracked at the Village studio in Los Angeles with producers Kenny Kerner and Richie Wise. The sound is thick and sludgy, and the whole thing carries the grime of a group still grinding it out on the road and determined to win over every room they played.

The songs are where it pays off. Got to Choose opens with a lean Paul Stanley strut, Parasite rides one of Ace Frehley's nastiest riffs with Gene Simmons growling over the top, and Goin' Blind slows everything to a creeping, eerie crawl. At the other end of the record, Strange Ways closes things with Peter Criss singing over a woozy, heavy groove and Frehley tearing off a solo fans still rave about.

The cover is a design classic too, with its Japanese lettering and comic-book menace arriving years before Kiss became a global merchandising machine.

For anyone who prefers their Kiss raw rather than glossy, this is the one to reach for, a loud, scrappy reminder of how hungry the band were in their earliest days.