Destroyer is the fourth studio album by American hard rock band Kiss, released on March 15, 1976, by Casablanca Records in the US.

[3] The success of Alive!, which spent 110 weeks on the charts, benefited not only the struggling band but also their cash-strapped label Casablanca Records.

The band felt that Ezrin was the right person to help them take their sound to the next level and to maintain the commercial success they had achieved with Alive!

In particular, Kim Fowley and Mark Anthony became important contributors during the songwriting process,[9] bringing in the title and basic structure of the song "King of the Night Time World" from their previous band Hollywood Stars' then-unreleased 1974 album Shine Like a Radio (which also featured the original version of the Alice Cooper song "Escape" from Welcome to My Nightmare).

[10] Ezrin flat out rejected most of the material, as only heavily re-worked versions of "God of Thunder" and "Detroit Rock City" made it to the album, and another song "Mad Dog" was pilfered for lyrics to "Sweet Pain" and a riff for "Flaming Youth".

[12] The first recording sessions for the album took place on September 3–6, 1975 at Electric Lady Studios in New York City, during a brief break between the Dressed to Kill and Alive!

Because none of the group were trained musicians, Ezrin halted the sessions at one point to provide lessons in basic music theory.

[15] To instill a sense of discipline, he wore a whistle around his neck and exhorted the band with sayings such as, "Campers, we're going to work!

"[17] Paul Stanley later compared the experience of working with Ezrin as "musical boot camp" but said that the group "came out a lot smarter for it.

One musician not credited was Dick Wagner, from Alice Cooper's band, replacing Ace Frehley on the track "Sweet Pain".

Kelly's original version of the album cover was rejected by the record company because they felt the scene was too violent looking with the rubble and flames.

The front cover shows the group striding on top of a pile of rubble, and a desolate background spotted with destroyed buildings, some of which are engulfed in flames.

[33] Robert Christgau, writing in The Village Voice, felt that it was Kiss's "least interesting record" and criticized producer Ezrin for adding "only bombast and melodrama".

The ballad, which according to Simmons was deliberately put on the B-side to force stations to play "Detroit Rock City", started receiving numerous listener requests and became an unexpected hit.

"Beth" (co-written and sung by Peter Criss) was re-released as the fourth single in late August, and it peaked at No.

[38][deprecated source] Greg Prato of AllMusic described Destroyer as "one of Kiss' most experimental studio albums, but also one of their strongest and most interesting.

"[26] Canadian journalist Martin Popoff, described Destroyer as a "no party album, looming darkly, ponderous, almost haunting at times, basically uncommunicative and puzzling due to its stylistic over-extension" and judged it a "success of early no-chops metal".

[39] In anticipation of the 35th anniversary of the release of Destroyer, producer Bob Ezrin approached Simmons and Stanley about doing a remix and re-release of the original album.

William Clark of Guitar International wrote: "Each track sounds crisper, clearer and louder, which are always welcome qualities when you're listening to a classic album of the likes of Destroyer".