ALICE COOPER
Brutal Planet (Spitfire)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson

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You knew he'd be back. Even a wooden stake through the heart wouldn't slow down ol' Alice, and a little thing like not having a record contract sure couldn't do it. Spitfire Records comes up large with a slammin' slab of Coopermetal. Granted, there are no masterworks of the "Elected" or "School's Out" ilk, but there's plenty of grinding, spooky, thundering metal here to please the younger Cooper crowd and keep the grand old man in the game. Produced by Cooper's two favorite Bob's (Ezrin and Marlette), Brutal Planet is far better than anyone probably expected. "Sanctuary" and "It's The Little Things" are as good as any post-70s Alice, and nearly every other song is good enough to make the fists pump. See, the thing is that Alice could even spew out formulaic metal-by-the-numbers on a daily basis and it'd still sound like something special because nobody sounds like Alice Cooper. Nobody else has that blend of near-repentant evil and Barnabas Collins fatalistic cool. With the Bobs at the knobs, an Alice Cooper album is still a fun thing to listen to.

© 2000 - DJ Johnson