Alice Cooper's 'Paranormal' - Album Review

Few solo artists can claim to be as influential or as revolutionary as Alice Cooper has been over the past five decades. While strictly not the first to do so, Cooper's use of make-up, an on-stage persona, and an over-the-top stage show really pushed the boundaries of live performance and redefined what a rock and roll show could be. His first album, Pretties for You, was released in 1969 and he has continued to release albums fairly regularly ever since. While it is his legendary live shows that he is most known for, his extensive back catalogue of studio recordings is impressive and contains many bona fide classics. Over the years, Cooper has tried his hand at many different styles of music. While his early 1970s glam rock output with the original Alice Cooper Band is arguably his most famous sound, his late 1970s/early 1980s experimental period has a cult following, and his late 1980s/early 1990s heavier rock sound that took influence from the hair metal phenomenon is still extremely popular. The heavier sound was retained during the late 1990s/early 2000s, but it was forged with industrial sounds which helped Cooper return to the horror themes of his earlier work. In recent years however Cooper has returned to his early sound somewhat with albums that contain catchy rock songs, with slight gothic overtones, and strong rock and roll/blues grooves. His last album, 2011's Welcome 2 My Nightmare, was an unexpected hit with many critics and fans calling it his best album for quite some time. While the original Alice Cooper Band has not been together for many years, Cooper has often used his touring band to record albums with. Welcome 2 My Nightmare changed this somewhat with a huge army of session musicians, songwriters, and previous collaborates coming together to create a fun album that really took the listener back to Cooper's early 1970s glory days. This approach has been continued on his latest effort, Paranormal, which believe it or not is his twenty seventh studio album! Produced by long-time producer Bob Ezrin, along with current live band member Tommy Henriksen and Swedish songwriter and session muscian Tommy Denander, Paranormal retains the bluesy 1970s sound of the previous effort and really sounds like Cooper is deliberately attempting to recreate his classic sound. Ezrin, Henriksen, and Denander are also responsible for much of the album's songwriting along with Cooper, and play many of the album's instruments. The drums throughout are mostly handled by Larry Mullen Jr. (U2), and the bass is mostly played by session king Jimmie Lee Sloas, so the majority of the instrumentation heard on the album is played by those five men. A few guests appear throughout however, including Roger Glover (Deep Purple; Rainbow) and Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top), but Cooper fans will be happiest to hear that the three remaining members of the original Alice Cooper Band - guitarist Michael Bruce, bassist Dennis Dunaway, and drummer Neal Smith - also appear on the album which helps to reinforce that classic 1970s sound when they appear.

The album opens with the title track, which is co-written by and features Glover, and it perfectly captures the creepy atmospherics of 1975's Welcome to my Nightmare with metronomic guitar melodies, occasional bursts of heavy 1970s-style rock, and Cooper's snarling vocals. Cooper's voice has barely changed at all throughout his career and he sounds as good as he did during his original early 1970s heyday. The song is mostly a slower one, but an explosive section towards the end that contains a a fluid guitar solo definitely helps to raise the energy levels somewhat before the creepy atmosphere returns. Dead Flies is a great slab of bluesy rock, and harks back to the sound the original Alice Cooper forged on songs like Under my Wheels. Denander and Henriksen form a formidable guitar duo here with a muscular riff that sits perfectly over Sloas' walking bassline. Cooper talk-sings his way through the verses with ease, but things pick up further during the somewhat anthemic choruses which make good use of the song's main riff and subtle vocal harmonies. A bluesy guitar solo is the icing on the cake, and really helps to reinforce that early 1970s sound. Fireball, which is co-written by and features Dunaway, is an upbeat rock track packed full of energy. Dunaway's bassline unsurprisingly drives the song, but the guitars help with some excellent riffing and bursts of lead to add extra melody. Ezrin's organ envelops the whole song, and gives the song a suffocating blues feel that contrasts well against Cooper's somewhat distant vocal performance. It is the longest song on the album, at just short of five minutes in length, but never outstays it's welcome with an addictive rhythm and a great raw production. Paranoiac Personality opens with Sloas' slow bassline, but the song soon explodes into a real slab of somewhat funky groove rock with a great guitar riff and some excellent drumming from Mullen. While the verses are packed with groove, the choruses are much more traditional with gang-style backing vocals which I am sure will go down well live, and big power chords from the guitars. Again, there is a fantastic guitar solo section which sounds like both Denander and Henriksen cutting loose. While the solos are never long on this album, as most of the songs are around the three minute mark, these little bursts of lead really help to bring the album to life. Fallen in Love features Gibbons on guitar so the song unsurprisingly opens with a sloppy bluesy riff that sounds like something Gibbons would have written for ZZ Top. While not credited, it also sounds like he contributes backing vocals to the track as it really sounds like his Texas drawl during the choruses! He definitely contributes the guitar solo however, as the tortured bluesy sounds coming out of the speakers could not belong to anyone else. This is something a little different to what Cooper usually does, but the songs works really well and is packed with attitude.

Dynamite Road opens the second half of the album up with an excellent blues shuffle. Cooper once again employs the talk-singing vocal style here which works well as the guitars chop away behind him. Mullen again shows his drumming chops here with a great performance that recalls many of the rock 'n' roll and blues legends of the 1950s and 1960s. It's a short song, and one that never lets up with the vocal lines coming thick and fast, but it is one that is guaranteed to get stuck in your head. Private Public Breakdown is more of a mid-paced rocker that is build around a strong guitar melody and a more overtly melodic vocal performance. This song really is classic Cooper and sounds like something that could have been on 1973's Billion Dollar Babies. Many of the songs on this album are faster efforts, but this one is happy to move along at a slower pace and the let the repeating guitar melody really drive things nicely. The chorus is another strong moment and helps to add extra melody. Holy Water is one of the best moments on the album in my opinion. There is a prominent horn section featured throughout and the performances of the rhythm section really gives the song natural swing. Cooper's vocals are at his most expressive here, and are very theatrical in their delivery. Horns are not something that Cooper has used much in the past, but it works well here and really make the song stand out. There is also a guitar solo performed by session musician Steve Hunter who has been collaborating with Cooper on and off since the mid-1970s. This song was not something I was expecting when listening to this album for the first time, but it really works well and I would be interested to see him tackle more songs like this in the future. Rats features the three remaining original Alice Cooper Band members, and has a great 1950s rock 'n' roll with bluesy guitar licks and plenty of keyboards from Ezrin. While not written by the original band, there is clearly still a lot of chemistry between the four men and their contributions really help to bring the song to life. A screeching bluesy guitar solo towards the end enhances that rock 'n' roll mood, as does Cooper's expressive vocal performances throughout. The Sound of A, also co-written by Dunaway, is a fairly experimental piece that features Ezrin's organ once more and plenty of acoustic guitars. It is an odd song to close such an upbeat and rocky album with, but the creepy atmospherics are somewhat comparable to that of the album's title track, effectively book-ending the album. I prefer Cooper's rockier efforts, but he does these more downbeat songs well too. Without having a true ballad on the album, this song acts as one with a melancholic feel and layers of atmosphere. Some of the guitar playing here sounds like something David Gilmour might have come up with had he ever collaborated with Cooper, but it is the growling organ that steals the show here and really makes the track what it is. Overall, Paranormal is another really strong album from Cooper that is the latest in a string of impressive releases. The album comes with a bonus disc that features two more new songs that also feature the original Alice Cooper band, and a handful of live recordings featuring Cooper's current live band. The whole package is excellent and is definitely recommended for fans of Cooper's early 1970s output.

The album was released on 28th July 2017 via earMusic. Below is his promotional lyric video for Paranormal.