Cooper, Alice: The Revenge of Alice Cooper

The Revenge of Alice Cooper is the long-awaited 8th studio album from the original Alice Cooper group, minus of course the late Glenn Buxton, though some guitar parts of his do appear on the album. The group here in 2025 are:

Alice Cooper: lead and backing vocals, harmonica
Neal Smith: drums and percussion
Dennis Dunaway: bass, backing vocals, guitar
Michael Bruce: guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals (8); piano, synthesizer (8), Fender Rhodes electric piano, organ

Along with:
Bob Ezrin: production, mixing, backing vocals, tambourine, organ, synthesizer, percussion, snaps, gang vocals, claps
Gyasi Heus: guitar, glockenspiel

Not surprisingly, the album sounds like the original group, just with a few decades in between and more modern production. "Black Mamba", the first single off the album and the opening track, is a good one, the 'ya ya ya ya ya ya yaa yaaa' chorus notwithstanding. This is a terrific, old school Alice Cooper styled hard rock number, with thick bass grooves and some chunky guitar riffs. Love the vibe, and Alice sounds great. Next up is "Wild Ones", filled with tasty guitar licks and riffs, and this has a Detroit feel to it, with a memorable chorus. The lead guitar work is also well done. "Up All Night" follows. a chunky hard rock song, again takes you back to the early '70s, though I'm not 100% sold on the chorus, which is kind of generic, but a fun song overall. "Kill the Flies" sounds like it could have come off of Love It to Death or Killer, with big fat guitar and bass riffs to start things off, and an evil vocal from Alice, nice backing vocal harmonies, and overall this one has a chilling vibe that really takes you back.

I really enjoyed "One Night Stand", which has a certain "Desperado" feel to it...again, sounds like it dropped in from a time capsule. More stinging lead guitar always helps too! "Blood of the Sun" might be my favorite track here, pretty heavy, and I love all the references to movies in the lyrics. Nice dark feel to the song, more cool riffing and guitar solos, drums and percussion are totally on point. Great song. I wish I could say the same for "Crap That Gets in the Way of Your Dreams". This is one of those kinda dumb AC songs, but it rocks enough and is pretty enjoyable as long as you take the lyrics as tongue in cheek like they are. Not one of my favorites, but not terrible. "Famous Face" is a mid-tempo rocker, with a catchy chorus, gritty guitar work, and strong vocals...another favorite here. Not much of a fan of "Money Screams", which is kind of a forgettable generic rocker. I can say the same for "What a Syd", which has a nod to "Hi De Hi De Hi De Ho" by Caz Calloway. I'm sure some people will like this, and they always do these out of left field songs (nice guitar solo) but, I'm kind of meh with this. Fans of "Blue Turk" and "Gutter Cat vs the Jets" will certainly dig this one. "Intergalactic Vagabond Blues" has a fun retro vibe, kind of bluesy/50s rock and roll, harmonica...it's mostly silly but easy to like. Smokin' guitar solo at the end, but enough with the wailing harmonica already! "What Happened to You" features the lone appearance from the late Glenn Buxton on the album...guess they had some leftover guitar parts from him that were unused. Decent enough boogie rocker, memorable chorus. Again, has that Detroit boogie vibe. "I Ain't Done Wrong" is more bluesy boogie, with slide guitar and harmonica. It's ok, nothing special, and sounds like a long lost Savoy Brown song, with good guitar work. "See You on the Other Side" is more of an emotional ballad, and I really like the power of this one, it really hits you hard, even though it's not a rocker.

The CD has two bonus hidden tracks, starting off with "Return of the Spiders", a newly unearthed and alternate take on this old favorite from Easy Action. It's bluesy garage rock as only the old ACG could do. Last we have "Titanic Overunderture", really creepy, gothic alternate take on this song from Pretties for You. Neither are mandatory, but cool finds from the vault.

Overall, I think Bob Ezrin and the band did a great job of getting the whole vibe of the original group here on this album. While not all the songs are 'top-notch' the majority are loads of fun, and the album rocks with an old school vibe.

Track Listing
1. "Black Mamba" 4:57
2. "Wild Ones" 4:17
3. "Up All Night" 3:07
4. "Kill the Flies" 4:13
5. "One Night Stand" 3:06
6. "Blood on the Sun" 6:03
7. "Crap That Gets in the Way of Your Dreams" 3:00
8. "Famous Face" 4:19
9. "Money Screams" 3:44
10. "What a Syd" 2:42 11. "Intergalactic Vagabond Blues" 3:11
12. "What Happened to You" 4:00
13. "I Ain't Done Wrong" 3:43
14. "See You on the Other Side" 3:58

Added: September 7th 2025
Reviewer: Pete Pardo
Score:
Related Link: Official Website
Hits: 231
Language: english

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