The opening track is a little bit of a shock with Alice using auto-tune on his voice and the fact it is a ballad. Once you get past the auto-tune there is a great song to be heard in "I Am Made Of You". Coop's best ballad since one his greatest compositions ever "The Song That Didn't Rhyme". It bleeds into the smoking rocker "Caffine" another high quality tune going two for two. This continues all through the album where nothing at all negative can be found. The excellent vaudevillian "Last Man On Earth" is everything the uber Alice Cooper fan like me could ask for from my hero. I am sitting here with the biggest smile that my face will allow as the album plays through for the second time in a row.
The albums most classic sounding song is probably "The Congregation" but even though it has all the trappings of the 70's it sounds fresh and powerful. The overtly goofy " Disco Bloodbath Boogie Fever" is a wonderful slice of Alice's humor and to be honest I'd love to see the visual he's got running through his head for the song. When the kick ass rock break @2:25 comes on the song gets even better with the old school stinging guitar interludes dance between the vocals. I just can't say enough about how much this album has going on because just when it's great it gets even better.
Now believe it or not the Ke$ha duet is hella good she fits perfectly into this genre and her undeniable talent is ever present as a co-writer. The disco infused rock reminds of what was happening in the late 70's as both genre's struggled to find their middle ground. Ke$ha is one of my personal favorite pop songstresses in the 2000's and only comes in second to Katy Perry in the format. The album closes with two instantly memorable tunes "I Gotta Get Outta Here" and "The Underture" the fore mentioned sounds like it came from the Billion Dollar Babies writing sessions. It just has that kind of feeling that the group was sitting around drinking some long-necks and strumming this one in the studio after enjoying a nice sunny day. Including the "Welcome To My Nightmare" medley as a song closing what has been an absolute joy to listen to should put a little lump in your throat as the album comes to its conclusion. The best thing about the ending is you get to go back and listen to the album all over again and again and again and again.
Coming in at fourteen songs you might expect for some filler but there is no trace of any. This album is a winner front to back and proves beyond a doubt that Alice Cooper still has all the magic that made me a lifelong fan from the moment I first heard "Under My Wheels" on my dad's stereo at the tender young age of three.
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