Review Summary: This album to me, shows Alice can work with any style of rock. A great piece of work from the "grandfather of Shock Rock"!
Alice Cooper's sound arranges to pretty much anything....it may not make sense, but neither does Alice! In the late 60's-70's Alice went from rock to experimental to hard rock and anything in between. He later became labeled "Shock Rock" because of his gruesome and shocking acts on stage. Through the 80's, his album "Trash" fit into the Hair Metal decade as bands like Whitesnake and Bon Jovi took over. Though he kept it very heavy, songs like "It's Only My Hart Talkin' ", became the perfect 80's ballad. It wasn't until 1990's "Hey Stoopid" and "The Last Temptation" four years later, he became known as heavy metal.
Brutal Planet is a really different twist for Alice,although it's another concept album.. it's his first time trying industrial rock. With a brand new band set up, Alice has to bring his heavy style into the year 2000, but keep it clean and easy to understand. Lyrics on this album are very deep, a dark "social fiction" about real life situations. Brutal Planet holds eleven tracks, some tracks heavier then others. Listening to this album any Alice fan can enjoy it, it has the hard rock/metal edge with great melodies, soulful guitar solos and more!
Brutal Planet- The album starts very heavy, the guitars just pound on the first 10 seconds of the album with that heavy riff "dun dun dun dundundun dun dun", and then the lead guitar squeals over the riff "na ne na ne na ne nun na na ne na ne na ne na!" ...(yes, I took time to do that)... Alice's lyrics really hit in the pre-chorus, "Why don't you, come down to" "It's such a Brutal Planet! It's such an ugly world"! As the chorus hits, the back-up vocals come in very erie-sounding as they sing in higher voices that sounds similar to the hop scotch song from Nightmare on Elm Street..."One two, Freddy's coming for you...".
Wicked Young Man-The meaning behind the song is all about school shootings. It's like Pearl Jam's Jeremy, except a lot more twisted. The lyrics to the chorus are such as "I am a vicious young man oh I am a wicked young man", and verse lines like " I got a pocketful of bullets and a blueprint of the school, I'm the devil's little soldier, I'm the devil's little tool".
Sanctuary-This is a more fun song of Alice's. A very up-tempo rock beat, as the guitars play the beginning intro and the band builds up, you heart starts to race. The whole song is fast paced and very fun to sing along with. The lyrics are comical and about average life for example, "I'll have 2.3 perfect kids, if I work real hard and if I die real fast, they will turn out just..like.me!"
Blow Me a Kiss-This is more of a message, Alice wants you think more spiritul as you listen and fall into the song (which you do). Let me start off saying, this song has an amazing guitar line, very slow and when the vocals come in, they're so soft they could put you to sleep! This song is very good to just lay back and listen by forgetting everything around you.
Eat Some More-Oh man, where to start? This song is HEAVY! The meaning has to do with starvation in other countries and how we waste food that could be used to feed others. Alice uses references to compare the scene, "Sixty million tons of meat, spoiling in the stinking heat" as he compares us in the chorus, "So we eat some more,
throw up on the floor, go back to the store, we're so hungry so pathetic". In a section break after the second chorus a very intense and whiney guitar solo can be heard over the rythym.
Pick up the Bones-This is my favorite song off this album, it's a very beautiful song that gets ugly fast. The verse is a very slow acoustic guitar played with wind effects and clean sliding in the back. As the pre chorus breaks in the song gets very loud, the bass comes in with the guitar now. Then BANG! The chorus is right in your face.."Pick up the Bones...and set them on fire!" After an long solo and the last chorus, the song stops...with a very slow guitar and wind and Alice ends with "cause the breath of the death, is the only sound" and the song fades out.
Pessi-Mystic- A great song for those that see the world as a living hell. A very creepy guitar riff with intense vocals that powers the chorus. The best thing about the song is how Alice screams "shut up!", through most of the song.
Gimme- A classic Alice song, heavy song with a very heavy guitar riff and lyrics about greety people! A very classic line comes from this song, " There is one thing,, I mean, everything has a price. I really hate to repeat myself, but nothing's free".
It's the Little Things-A fun, fast-paced song, one of the only songs on the album not using any industrial sounds, (there are a couple others). In this song Alice is basically saying..."you can do whatever you want to me...but if you ask me about my name, I'll lose it!"...it's just the little things that drives anyone of us wild! Am I right?
Take It Like A Woman-An Alice ballad...ahh, have to love it! This is a very beautiful song (yes I'm a guy and I'll admit it), with a nice piano melody as the main riff. Alice wrote this song dealing with all the abuse to women and domestic violence.
Cold Machines- A great song to end the album on and another favorite song of mine that gives you the "Feed My Frankenstein" feel. The pounding guitar riff and stalking lyrics, it gives you the feeling of hatred. It brings out the time when a certain someone never noticed you and now, you want revenge.
Recommended Tracks:
-Pick Up the Bones
-Brutal Planet
-Cold Machines
-Gimme
-Blow Me a Kiss
