Dragontown
Marilyn Mansonmay have stolen some of Alice Cooper's thunder a few years back, but there is more to this old rock warrior than smeared mascara and ripped tights. The third and final chapter to his rock morality series finds Cooper unfurling more grim tales of life before the apocalypse, and with the same wit, ferocity, and genius that we first saw in his 1971 classic,Killer. On the Coop's 25th album, he's eschewed most of his comic shtick and self-parody of years past, employing a harder, guitar-saturated industrial sound that can compete with the best of agro rockers, such asKornandRob Zombie. And while there aren't any teen anthems like "Eighteen" or "Under My Wheels," lurking on the disc, "Mr. Fantasy," his paean to self acceptance, comes close, as Cooper's menacing cartoon voice thunders, "I don't read books / I don't French cook or stroll around in galleries / I hate opera / I hate Oprah / Don't fill my head with poetry." Listeners will be aghast when Cooper serves up sacred cow in "Disgraceland" as he croons in a flawlessElvis Presleyimitation that the fallen king ". . . ate his weight in country ham / Killed on pills and broken dreams," and proves once again that this city ham still has what it takes both to shock and rock.--Jaan Uhelszki