Legendary rockers KISS will release their 20th studio album, "Monster", on October 9 through Universal Music Enterprises. Described in a press release as a "12-track, straight-ahead rock 'n' roll album," the CD features collaborations among all four members — including co-founders Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons and longtime members guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer — in an album that shows the band at the top of its game.

"Monster" is the group's first studio album since the band's 2009 smash success, "Sonic Boom", and was also produced by Paul Stanley with Greg Collins at Conway Studios in Hollywood, California, and The Nook in Studio City, California.

Speaking to Artisan News (see video below), Stanley said that he wanted "Monster" to be a a true collaboration, and as producer, wouldn't stand for anything but a cohesive, focused band album.

"Ultimately, anytime you involve outside people, you're diluting what the band does, and you're also leaving some loopholes for people to not do their job," he said. "And it was important to me, and basically a deal-breaker in terms of producing the album, that the band wrote all the material."

He continued, "When you have outside writers, it kind of means sometimes that you don't have to do any work. You have somebody else write a song and you slap your name on it. So it gives you the ability to go off and do other projects when you should be taking care of your home. So I wanted to avoid those kinds of pitfalls."

"Monster" track listing (iTunes version):

01. Hell Or Hallelujah
02. Wall Of Sound
03. Freak
04. Back To The Stone Age
05. Shout Mercy
06. Long Way Down
07. Eat Your Heart Out
08. The Devil Is Me
09. Outta This World
10. All For The Love Of Rock & Roll
11. Take Me Down Below
12. Last Chance
13. Right Here Right Now

"Hell Or Hallelujah" official lyric video: