Taking a dip in sales with their previous effort UNMASKED, Kiss decided to deliver a more hard-driving rock album and enlisted the aid of Bob Ezrin, the man who produced DESTROYER (their most successful studio album). Upon his hiring, Ezrin discarded the heavy rock demos Kiss had recorded and suggested the band experiment with a concept album, a Kissified version of THE WALL.
Disgruntled at the band's new direction, Ace Frehley only contributed one track, "Dark Light" (featuring a blistering solo), and aside from basic tracks, the rest of the record was completed without him. THE ELDER is a creative left turn for the band. Kiss brought in co-writers Tony Powers ("Odyssey", "The Oath") and Lou Reed ("Dark Light", "A World Without Heroes", "Mr. Blackwell") to contribute to this epic fantasy, and the result is some magnificent music. The American Symphony Orchestra is heard throughout the album, adding to the grand scale. The finale, "I" is a powerful ode to self-esteem, sung convincingly by Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. THE ELDER is a highly underrated Kiss album that showed the band's depth and ability to branch out in different musical directions.