"Asylum" is the thirteenth studio album by American rock band Kiss, released on September 16, 1985. The album continues the glam metal sound that was introduced with their previous album, Animalize.
Asylum is notable for being the first Kiss album to feature Bruce Kulick as an official band member. Kulick had previously filled in for Mark St. John on some tracks of the 1984 album Animalize and throughout much of the album's tour, due to St. John's absence caused by reactive arthritis. With Kulick joining the lineup permanently, the band, consisting of Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Eric Carr, and Kulick, would continue until Carr's death in 1991. Kulick remained with Kiss until the original lineup's reunion in 1996.
The song "Love's a Deadly Weapon" on Asylum includes credits for Plasmatics members Rod Swenson and Wes Beech because it borrows heavily from their band's song "Party". However, the title and lyrics originate from a Kiss demo written by Paul Stanley in 1981, which was officially released on the 40th Anniversary remaster of Creatures of the Night (1982). Additionally, Jean Beauvoir of the Plasmatics is credited as a songwriter on several tracks and plays bass on at least two of the songs on the album.
The cover art of Asylum by Kiss is a deliberate homage to previous album designs, incorporating elements from both their 1978 solo releases and the 1979 album Dynasty. The four band members are depicted with colored lips that align with the colors used on their solo albums: red for Gene Simmons, purple for Paul Stanley, blue for Bruce Kulick (who replaced Ace Frehley), and green for Eric Carr (who replaced Peter Criss).
The placement of the band members' faces on the cover mirrors the layout of the Dynasty album cover, with the arrangement being clockwise from top left: Stanley, Simmons, Carr, and Kulick. This design choice reinforces the continuity and evolution of the band’s visual identity.
The back cover of Asylum continues the vibrant and stylized aesthetic, featuring the band against a white background in a similarly colorful presentation. When the album was remastered and reissued on CD in 1998, the cover art featured slightly altered, bolder colors, enhancing the visual impact of the original design.
