At 63, former KISS member Ace Frehley has seen quite a bit. However, that doesn’t mean he’s ready to slow down or forget about his past. Keeping his “Spaceman” persona going, Ace splashed tastes of his KISS past in his latest solo release, Space Invaders, while also signaling his career’s nowhere near over now or in the future.

Considered a metal guitar god by many, Frehley packed every song on the album with uncanny guitar licks, catchy riffs and powerful major chords. The album’s title track is laced with wicked guitar shredding as Ace preaches, “You know this planet has been in trouble…for a thousand years we’ve all been blind.”

As he sings in “Immortal Pleasures,” “I’ve got my guitar so catch me if you can.” Ace’s guitar is the driving force of this release. The Rush-esque track “Toys” and very KISS sounding “What Every Girl Wants” channel Ace’s desire to still see himself as youthful.

Definitely a guitar player first and singer-songwriter second, some of the album’s songs have shallow, cheesy themes but are in a way rescued by his intangible fret maneuvering. Though it had fans excited, his cover of The Steve Miller Band’s “The Joker,” while very much unique, does not do the original song justice.

Some of the album’s brightest spots come when Frehley shuts up and jams out, as in “Inside the Vortex,” the song most likely to make you bob your head up and down instinctively. After all, as he sings in “Past the Milky Way,” “I’m running out of oxygen but I’ve still got my guitar.”

3/5 stars.