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Alice Cooper
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| By
Vinnie Apicella
The first thing you
notice in gawking at Alice's new album is the "black" is back.
as in
the black face paint he first made famous all those years ago-a
foreshadowing of the imminent return of the "Prince of
Darkness"
perhaps? Well certainly, and could we expect anything different? This
creation that is "Alice Cooper" who paved the way for so many
of those
artistically inclined showmen to follow shows no signs of slowing and in
fact one of the few who've actually intensified with age, redefining
himself, his work and dreaming up new nightmares, bizarre images that
haunt the mind, never fully isolated to those grandiose moments in time
reserved for the granddaddies of the good ol' days. Just say "Ozzy?"
I
don't think so. "Dragontown" is a place. a dark place reserved
for the
fallen angels and those martyred from habitual deceit, bred from idol
worship, and yet many names and faces held dear to so many for so long,
well, nothing's ever as it seems in Alice's world. The latest in the
trilogy first begun with 1994's "Last Temptation," followed by
the
unlikely bombast of "Brutal Planet" several years later,
"Dragontown"
paints the final portrait in jet black, the final piece of the concept
bore of violence, vice and corruption in a material world gone awry, the
tale begins and ends here while the journey draws you in, as a listener,
still in awe of the capabilities by this man possessed. Where
"Brutal
Planet" was a pulverizing mix of riff-driven explosiveness, five
years
removed from the puritanically personal and "classic" styled
nature of
"The Last Temptation," "Dragontown," employs
elements of both,
considerably darker, deeper and more tempestuous.
"Triggerman," begins
the tale of woe in an immediate downward spiral, rhythmically,
lyrically-self-explanatory and half the fun is following along the
words, but for our abbreviated purposes, the chorus will do: "I am
the
Triggerman, I am the underhand, I'm full of dirty tricks, I'm twice as
smart and certainly twice as sick." In its entirety,
"Triggerman"
offers an impressive opening, is surprisingly up-tempo, throws catchy
arrangements and inarguably, the perfect song to lock your doors to.
"Deeper" churns along in a much eerier manner, completely
offsetting the
agility of its preceding opener, this one will give you nightmares
before you've had even a moment to raise your hands in prayer.
"Dragontown" as the title track is amongst the most
impressive, starting
off with an apocalyptic approach, you might well convey an image of
purgatory the further along this one plays-and here's where the concept,
loosely based as it may be, call it, an "evil dwelling" if
you're so
inclined, unfolds, and like a quick strike of the sword, it's upon us.
Sound wise, the production on this record is more refined than the last,
the formula remaining in a much clearer mix-noteworthy of the production
job of industry vets Marlette and Ezrin-the electronic stimulus
continues its sinister handiwork giving extra emphasis to this parallel
universe Mr. Cooper so aptly conjures. "Dragontown's" another
inspired
creation from a twisted mind never at rest, never at peace, still
capably shocking, purposefully relevant and oddly mistakable-see
"Disgraceland's" Rockabilly "tribute" to the vaulted
one during the
latter stages-"Dragontown," an album destined for greatness
and
appreciable longevity.
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