The history of the career of Alice Cooper has been one of great success worldwide, emerging as an innovator in his field to popularize the usage of elaborate stage shows and mechanics in order to wow and amaze his audiences: an example taken and expanded by numerous artists from David Bowie and Kiss all the way to Rammstein, Ghost, Slipknot, Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson and others. Now the Cooper band has returned with their new album ‘Paranormal’ – their first since 2011’s ‘Welcome 2 My Nightmare’, and features a selection of guest musicians from successful bands as Deep Purple, U2, and ZZ Top.
‘Paranormal’ opens with its title track and a continuous drum roll of an introduction with bursts of guitar pave way to the introduction of Cooper’s familiar vocal, albeit slightly more subdued and tame than some of his past musical output. Some criticism has been aimed at the man himself for the quality of his voice in recent years: circumstances that cannot be escaped due to naturally aging. Here, however, Cooper’s voice sounds as good as it ever has, despite adopting a softer approach of course in comparison to what has come before it. “Dead Flies” immediately follows as the second of the album’s tracks, and again is able to utilize cleverly morbid lyricism and incorporate it into melodic hard rock, which could be interpreted as Alice Cooper’s biggest talent as a musician and a songwriter. If you are the sort of listener that pays attention to what is actually being said as opposed to just the audible sound of the music, then you’ll find lots to enjoy on Alice Cooper’s new effort so far.
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Two songs down so far and not much in the way of negative criticism to be said: “Fireball” leads the listener even further down into the album’s musical output, and again this song manages to retain the band’s famous style while still discovering new avenues in order to stand on its own and have its creative prowess be viewed clearly. Like I’ve said previously on other album reviews, it is so great to see artists pushing themselves especially so far into a career like Alice Cooper’s.
“Paranoiac Personality” has been streaming live online for over a month now so there’s been plenty of time to check out the album’s fourth track ahead of the release of the album. Starting out quite psychedelic in its immediate moments, it soon bursts into the familiar classic rock mood that has come to be associated with the music of this band since the late 1960s and early 1970s, give or take for some musical departures into other styles here and there. Reaction to this song online since its release has appeared to be mostly positive, which again adds to this shaping up to be another Alice Cooper album which stands true to the legacy that the band have made over their time together.
“Fallen in Love” and “Dynamite Road” mark the record’s halfway mark, with the former of the two songs possibly deceiving you into thinking that it is a ballad, but the track is just another great song on an album full of great songs so far. The latter song “Dynamite Road”, however, races from its opening moments all the way to its conclusion with words of excess, debauchery, violence, criminality and everything else that you would expect from the heavy metal scene of the 1970s and 1980s. With blistering musicianship and one of Cooper’s best vocal performances perhaps on the entire album, this is a highlight of ‘Paranormal’and a song you should definitely enjoy.
At this point we’re approaching the end of the album as the last bunch of songs start to wind things down. “Private Public Breakdown” is the first of the aforementioned tracks, and it having to follow “Dynamite Road” before it obviously puts it in an unfortunate position – it’s definitely not a bad song but it does feel slightly out of its league having to come after what came before it, but on any other Alice Cooper album it would sit comfortably as a perfectly fine inclusion on that record.
“Holy Water” accurately presents the showmanship of Alice Cooper as one of the greatest and most influential entertainers in the history of the music business, and this song is an obvious statement of intent that he desires to retain that position for years to come. The inclusion of instruments that are not typical of this kind of music and the ability to make them work alongside the traditional guitar/bass/drum set-up again is evidence of the talent of the Alice Cooper band. This song just reeks of the sort of atmosphere that makes classic rock brilliant, making it one of the album’s best.
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“Rats” and “The Sound of A” bring ‘Paranormal’ to an end, featuring the same sort of old-school rock-driven style (under a number of different guises, be that fast-paced or more melodic and softer) that has made the songs before them on this album so musically entertaining. It’s safe to say that if you’ve enjoyed everything up to this point, then these last two songs will definitely satisfy your appetite for well-produced classic rock music. The closing track “The Sound of A” especially succeeds at feeling like the final composition on an album bursting with ideas that have worked positively time and time again.
The legend of Alice Cooper as a musical force especially when it comes to rock music cannot be overstated, and this album genuinely succeeds in showing why still to this day he and his band is one of the best to have ever done it. While not as instantly classic as the records he produced in his golden era decades back, ‘Paranormal’ should in years to come be recognized as one of Alice’s greatest efforts, and is an album that demands your attention.