At this point in Kiss's career, the band had lost two founding members, released two unsuccessful albums that largely alienated their fanbase (1980's Unmasked and 1981's Music from "The Elder") and made a "return to form" with 1982's Creatures of the Night that still failed to gain the public's attention.

[4] However, the sessions for Animalize saw the band regaining momentum, as 1983's Lick It Up had achieved Platinum status and yielded a successful tour.

[4] With the departure of another member in lead guitarist Vinnie Vincent and the hiring of a complete unknown in Mark St. John to replace him, Animalize saw the band at a crossroads of sorts.

Most of this centered around his perceived lack of commitment to the band and his preoccupation with numerous outside projects, including producing and managing other rock groups such as Black 'n Blue (of whom Tommy Thayer was a member at the time), and co-starring in the 1984 movie Runaway.

[4] In retrospective reviews, Matthew Wilkening of Ultimate Classic Rock described Animalize as "Kiss' most aggressive album ever" with some tracks "bordering on metal territory with their heavily distorted, uptempo attack.

"[4] Greg Prato of AllMusic observed that "Kiss seemed to be copying other successful pop-metal bands (Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Mötley Crüe, etc.

), both musically and visually" and concluded that the album, despite having a few good songs, wasn't as strong as its two predecessors, singling out most of Simmons' contributions as "forgettable" and "embarrassing".

[citation needed] "Heaven's on Fire" became the biggest hit from the album (as well as one of the only songs to survive on the band's live setlist after the '80s), and its music video received heavy MTV rotation.