Summary

The author reviews Ace Frehley's 2024 solo album, "10,000 Volts," praising the KISS legend's guitar playing, vocals, and the album's overall quality.

Abstract

The author, a fan of KISS and Ace Frehley, reviews the artist's eighth solo studio album, "10,000 Volts." They mention their love for Frehley's previous works, including his 1978 album "Ace Frehley" and his time in KISS. After initially ignoring Frehley's later solo works, the author recently discovered and enjoyed albums like "Frehley's Comet" (1987), "Trouble Walkin'" (1989), and "Anomaly" (2009). The author praises the title track of "10,000 Volts," released as a single in December, and expresses excitement for the album's release in late February. Two more singles, "Walkin' on The Moon" and "Cherry Medicine," are also mentioned, with the author growing to love them quickly. The author concludes by stating that they are very happy with the entire album, with no disliked songs, and shares their current favorite tracks: "Fightin' for Life," "Life of a Stranger," and "Stratosphere."

Opinions

The author is a fan of Ace Frehley and KISS, enjoying Frehley's guitar playing and vocals.
The author initially ignored Frehley's later solo works but recently discovered and enjoyed albums like "Frehley's Comet," "Trouble Walkin'," and "Anomaly."
The author praises the title track of "10,000 Volts" and grows to love the other singles, "Walkin' on The Moon" and "Cherry Medicine."
The author is very happy with the entire "10,000 Volts" album, with no disliked songs and shares their current favorite tracks.

10,000 Volts: Great New Music from Ace Frehley

My review of the KISS legend’s 2024 solo album, ‘10,000 Volts’

Ace Frehley, one of the four original members of the legendary band KISS, recently released his eighth solo studio album, entitled 10,000 Volts.

I was a big fan of KISS in the 1970s and I loved Ace Frehley’s guitar playing and lead vocals with them then. I also loved his 1978 album Ace Frehley, which contained the song “Back In The New York Groove,” which was released as a single and became a very huge hit.

After the solo album, Ace continued with KISS for three more albums before quitting the band in 1982. He would return to the band in the 1990s for a reunion album and a couple of tours, but permanently left them again in 2002.

In between and after his tenures in KISS, Ace Frehley recorded multiple solo albums, including two he did with a short-lived band he led called Frehley’s Comet.

Even though I loved Ace’s first solo album and his works during his original time in KISS (especially the songs “Shock Me,” “Rocket Ride,” and “2,000 Man”), I didn’t pay any attention at all to his later solo works — not until very recently, that is.

In just the past few months, I’ve finally listened to — and been very impressed by — a few of his albums: Frehley’s Comet from 1987, Trouble Walkin’ from 1989, and Anomaly from 2009.

While falling in love with those albums, I learned that Ace Frehley was on the verge of releasing a new solo album, which would be the aforementioned 10,000 Volts. As a preview, he released the title track as a single in December:

10,000 Volts

I instantly loved the song. I thought Ace’s voice and guitar playing on it sounded fantastic. Most importantly of all, I thought the song rocked!

It was announced that the new album was going to be released in late February. However, before then, the next two songs were also released as singles:

Walkin’ on The Moon

Cherry Medicine

Although I didn’t fall in love with these two songs quite as quickly as I did with “10,000 Volts,” it didn’t take me too long.

They both quickly grew on me — especially “Cherry Medicine.” The chorus of it, in particular, is incredibly catchy. It’s been stuck ‘on repeat’ in my head many times recently. Thankfully, I’m okay with that!

The three early singles got me very excited about hearing the 10,000 Volts album when it was released. I hoped that those three early songs weren’t going to be the only songs on the album that I liked.

I’m very happy to say that wasn’t the case. There are no songs on the album that I dislike.

Here are another three songs from it that I love. Although my ‘favorites’ are subject to change over time, these are my current favorite songs on the album.

Fightin’ for Life

This is one of the hardest rocking songs on 10,000 Volts. My suggestion to you is to turn the volume up loud before you listen to it.

A WARNING MESSAGE, THOUGH: If you listen to this song while driving, and you’re anything like me, there’s a very good chance you’re going to be motivated to drive very fast while you’re rocking out.

Just be careful out there, okay?

Life of a Stranger

Ace Frehley has a habit of including at least one cover song on each of his albums and he kept it going on this album. “Life of a Stranger” is a cover of a song by a singer named Nadia that was from the soundtrack of the 2002 Jason Statham film The Transporter.

It has fantastic lyrics. Also, although it’s a slow song, Ace’s version of the song is still a great rocker. I especially love the guitar playing in it.

Stratosphere

Another thing Ace Frehley normally does on his albums is include an instrumental. This great one is the final song on the album. The music in “Stratosphere” is both rocking and kind of haunting sounding — with maybe a touch of a ‘science fiction vibe’ to it. I think it was a fantastic choice to close the album with.

All in all, I think 10,000 Volts is a great, very enjoyable album to listen to. Even if you’re not a KISS fan or a fan of Ace Frehley’s earlier solo works, I highly recommend it to you.

Me with my Ace Frehley/Spaceman Funko Pop figure. Design created in Canva by the author.

NOTE: Ace Frehley’s 10,000 Volts is the 33rd album in a music listening challenge I’m participating in this year, in which my goal is to listen to at least 113-new-to-me albums before the end of the year. If you’d like to learn more about the challenge and see how I’m doing with it, please click here.

Thank you for reading! If you’d like to connect with me outside of Medium, you can also find me on X, YouTube, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, and Goodreads. I’m also the host of the GOTTA POP podcast. Links to all of those things can be found here.