Alice Cooper - The Eyes Of Alice Cooper
Spitfire Records - 2003
4.5/10
It’s a damn good thing that Alice Cooper stepped away from the industrial sound that dominated two albums. Two years following, we would see what marks the beginning of the modern rock ‘n roll sound that’s had little change from then to now. The Eyes Of Alice Cooper dials back the overly distorted guitars and dystopic on-the-nose lyrics while holding onto the crystal clear production. Basically, we’ve reached the era that every older rock star hits that seems to focus on nostalgia and looking back on their career.
We’ve seen it with Scorpions, KISS, Ozzy, and the likes. What does Alice’s brand look like? The answer is that it depends on if there’s a reach for one specific theme, or just a general “fit in” attempt. This one leans more towards the latter, bringing more of the alternative rock that was hinted in the last record. Poppier rhythms return, but not in the glam metal sense, but more in the early 2000s rock sense. “Between High School & Old School” would not sound out of place in a playlist with Green Day or All American Rejects. If that’s not enough, “Novocaine” uses the more easy going feel to implement the same idea. The latter is actually surprisingly kind of fun, but other attempts at this feel way too forced.
The rest of The Eyes Of Alice Cooper is more or less just underwhelming attempts at the classic rock sound under celebrity accomplishment. “This House Is Haunted” aims for the old Welcome To My Nightmare vibes but really goes nowhere. “Man Of The Year” absolutely reeks of generic riffing, and is very representative of something tired. In fact, a majority of the back half kind of falls off and reduces to this, going on for far too long despite not being too terrible in runtime. For the most part, the majority of this is fine, but extremely dull and holds little to no memorability outside of the first couple songs I mentioned.
No comments:
Post a Comment