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Release Date: September 13th 2011
Review Date: September 11th, 2011
Label: Universal Music
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It would be a massive understatement to say that I was eagerly waiting for Alice Cooper's "Welcome 2 My Nightmare" album. The time is finally here, and one of the most anticipated rock albums of the year is ready for release across the North American market. I'm a firm believer in albums as opposed to singles, and I prefer to judge a song based on how it contributes to the album. So even though I couldn't resist listening to the recently released "I'll Bite Your Face Off", I reserved my judgement till I got to listen to the whole album. Needless to say, as soon as I got the advance review copy in my hand, I gleefully opened it and started listening to it straightaway.
More than 35 years after the first Welcome To My Nightmare album, Alice Cooper has resurrected the concept and while that famous horror-based theme is still present in patches throughout the new album, it's definitely a much more diverse set of tunes that take the listeners through a journey they would have never expected from the God of shock rock. Welcome 2 My Nightmare presents Alice Cooper along with Bob Ezrin, members of the original Alice Cooper group, and an array of guest musicians that include Steve Hunter from Lou Reed fame, Kesha, Rob Zombie, John 5, Piggy D, Kip Winger, Jimmy DeGrasso, and many others.
The album starts with the ballad "I Am Made Of You". The music itself is great, with very nicely crafted piano and guitar layers, but it's just the use of auto-tune in Alice's vocals that doesn't sit right with me. With that said, if you look beyond this aspect, the song gives the album a good start, touching on the dark undertones of the original Nightmare album through its piano parts. The album then moves onto "Caffeine", a hard rock tune with the combination of guitar riffs and vocal chorus that give it a very retro, almost disco type feel. A very interesting tune to say the least, and one that I've really begun to enjoy more and more with every repeated listen. "The Nightmare Returns" is the first track that really revisits the Nightmare theme. Alice's haunting vocals dominate this one and make it sound like a continuation of the 1975 album. It ends after just 1 minute and 16 seconds though, and if you merely look at the track listing, it might give you the impression that it leads into a similarly themed follow-up track. As it turns out, that's far from the case here and the next track "A Runaway Train" is pretty much a straight-up psychobilly number. A very enjoyable song either way, and with its lyrics it introduces an element of humor that continues on a few of the remaining tracks.
"Last Man On Earth" offers a lot more of this humor aspect, but again the striking contrast from the previous track is quite evident in terms of the music alone. This is a slow, dark tune decorated with trumpets, violins and various other layers of instrumentation. Alice is in a story-telling mode, and appears to be addressing an audience as he sings the tale of how he's the last man standing on earth. This would be a great live tune and I would love to see Alice perform this one, may be even with a backing orchestra. "The Congregation" brings the album back to a more standard hard rock feel, but the auto-tuned vocals give it a touch of pop. The guitar work is excellent in what turns out to be probably the most guitar-oriented tune on the entire album, along with "I'll Bite Your Face Off" which comes next. I would describe this as "Alice Cooper meets AC/DC". The lyrics are typical of Alice's shock rock themes whereas the music possesses a quintessential AC/DC style. These two tracks add up to 8 and a half minutes in total, and this is just about the longest duration for which you'll get to hear "classic rock" on this album at any given time.
The album continues to throw up wild surprises and stylistic shifts, as "Disco Bloodbath Boogie Fever" follows, an out-and-out disco tune. As I've said many times in past reviews, I'm very open-minded when it comes to different styles of music, but this is far beyond my taste and I quickly hit the 'next' button as a result. "Ghouls Gone Wild" doesn't help much either, a pop-rock number with yet more auto-tuned vocals. This roller-coaster then moves to a pop ballad in the form of "Something To Remember Me By", but thankfully it goes back to the Nightmare theme to some extent, with the slow and heavy rock tune "When Hell Comes Home". It has an element of grunge as the guitar parts somewhat remind me of Audioslave, which isn't a bad thing because it combines very well with Alice's deep vocals.
"What Baby Wants" is a pop-rock duet featuring Kesha, and sounds better than I thought it would. She has certainly done a good job with the lyrics. But it's not going to turn me into a Kesha fan overnight, that's for sure. "I Gotta Get Outta Here" is similar in style to tracks #5 and #6, and should please the rock fans. The album comes to a close with "The Underture", which fittingly revisits music from the 1975 album. It's more like a medley, and ties in with the theme of the album perfectly well. I feel this album needed a track like this to justify being titled "Welcome 2 My Nightmare", and I'm glad Alice and co agree.
All in all, this album captures the vibe of the old Welcome To My Nightmare album, but with an extremely modern feel that would be welcomed with open arms by some whereas won't be appreciated to the same degree by others. This album has so much variety that it almost feels like a mix-tape rather than an album, and the disco track notwithstanding, I do appreciate that aspect. It has grown on me with repeated listens, and I hope that the band plays some of it live, after which I'm sure I'll be able to appreciate it even more.
For Alice Cooper fans, Welcome 2 My Nightmare is worth a purchase. An unbelievable roller-coaster ride with stunning musical variety.
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