In Brief

** 1/2 KISS, “Revenge,” Mercury. No changes to report in KISS’ 20-year case of arrested mental and emotional development, which finds the band still playing primarily to the girlie-mag fantasies of 14-year-olds. KISS’ smarts lie in its craft: “Revenge” is replete with catchy, yowl-along refrains and canny borrowings, especially on the ZZ-meets-Van-Halen “Domino.” Most important for a metal record, the band sounds hungry and fierce.

New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).