These days seem to be a renaissance of veteran rockers returning to make new and really good music (see Museletters 4, 8, 9 for reviews of Metallica, Ray Davies, Van Halen, and Matthew Sweet). This is the 127th (give or take 100) studio album by the original shock-rocker and evangelical Christian, Alice Cooper. Although he recently turned 70, Cooper and his signature snarl are as visceral as ever. These songs are gripping and powerful with attractive melodies. There is a spooky Trans-Siberian vibe on the title track and hyped-up Hendrix riffs on “Dead Flies.” “Rats” sounds like a deranged and enraged Chuck Berry howling out a low view of humanity. A “love” song only Alice Cooper could write, “Fallen in Love (And I Can’t Get Up),” has a great ZZ Top blues rhythm – so much so, they had to get Billy Gibbons himself to play guitar on it.

There is an Iggy and the Stooges kind of sound on “Private Public Breakdown” and “You and all your friends.” The production is polished and punchy. This album is hard to stop listening to. Highly recommended!

You can hear Alice Cooper in the regular rotation on my Spotify playlist, Give Me Liberty and Give Me Rock!