After the big flop of “Welcome 2 My Nightmare” and the indifferent Hollywood Vampires project I really had no expectations from the new Alice Cooper album…
Little did I know… this masterpiece hit me right in the face! The first spin was a series of electric shocks with the Prince Of Darkness cradling his whip and showing his teeth with his trademark grin. Honestly, I don’t think that even the most hardcore Alice Cooper fan was expecting such an album. Is it his collaboration with Bob Ezrin, the outcome of an amazing inspiration, a conscious return to his roots? Call it what you like, “Paranormal” is a killer album!
The atmosphere and the songs send you straight to the ‘70s, the era that Alice had his heyday. “Paranormal”, which was the first song to be released sets the pace. There is no chorus, but only mysterious, haunting melodies and outbursts that make you think you are listening to three different songs. And this is just the beginning… “Fireball” races like a train… “Paranoic Personality” is self-descriptive… “Sound Of A” could have been a tribute to David Bowie” , is it? In general the band is like a career spanning “best of” including everything we loved in Alice Cooper’s albums. There’s the intrigue, the mystery, the chill, but a sense of humour too. A great bonus is the two songs featuring the original Alice Cooper Band with “Genuine American Girl” standing out. The second CD also includes six live recorded classics with the current lineup, to fill up the space of the disk… they are welcome!
The album also features some special guests, ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, Deep Purple’s Roger Glover and U2’s Larry Mullen, but trust me they go unnoticed because this album is so good that doensn’t need them.
Alice Cooper is the chameleon of rock, he changes his color according to the times and his instinct. In 2005 he thought he should return to garage and he succeeded. In 1989 he played better hair metal than any hair metal band and in the ‘90s he became darker than ever. What he achieves with “Paranormal” is the release of an essential career album almost 50 years after its beginning. If you think that’s easy, well you better think again. This is one of Cooper’s best album ever. Personally I have to go back to “Trash” to find a better one. Go get it!
