Here's my long ass song by song (sort of) review. I spoil some little nuances, so if you don't want to read it, that's fine.
So, here we go:
Track list:
1. I Am Made of You
2. Caffeine
3. The Nightmare Returns
4. Runaway Train
5. Last Man on Earth
6. The Congregation
7. I'll Bite Your Face Off
8. Disco Bloodbath Boogie Fever
9. Ghouls Gone Wild
10. Something to Remember Me By
11. When Hell Comes Home
12. What Baby Wants
13. I Gotta Get Outta Here
14. The Underture
Welcome 2 My Nightmare kicks off with it's opening track entitled I Am Made of You. A song that starts of appropriately with the famous Steven keys. It starts off quiet mellow, but builds during the choruses to reach a solo that is 70's cigarette-lighter-waving worthy. Great opening track and it left me wanting more. Moving on to Caffeine. The intro sounds like Alice is trying to get a classic rock vibe going on this one, and it works to an extent. The verse is catchy and solid, and the pre-chorus is badass as well. However, when the song hit's its chorus, it really makes me think "...the hell?" It it really doesn't fit the mold as it has Alice and his cronies screaming "Caffeine Caffeine...Amphetamine" in high pitched screams. The song ends on a rather annoying note with Alice screaming "Gimme Gimme Gimme" for the last 20 seconds of the songs. The Nightmare Returns doesn't have much music, just a character, Steven I presume, talking about his life. The "song" does build a little and includes some decent music reminiscent of that on Welcome to My Nightmare.
Next comes A Runaway Train; a song that begins similarly to Billion Dollar Babies. Not much can be said about this song honestly. It is not worthy of intense praise, nor is it worthy intense criticism. It's not good, but it's not bad. Fortunately, does not take away from the overall feel of Welcome 2 My Nightmare, however, it doesn't really add to the album either. The next song is a pretty different one for Alice with Last Man on Earth. No guitars but horns, pianos, violins, and drums. The entire song is rather catchy, and I dig it. I also think the song marks where the album starts to kick it up a notch.
The following song is vying for my favorite track on the album. The Congregation starts off with a few acoustic guitar parts but kicks off soon after. The verse is sweet, but where the song takes off his during the chorus. I am a fan of gang vocals; having always found them to be epic and badass. Here, Alice sings the chorus with himself, himself, himself, and his cronies. Yay for multi-tracking. This song is begging to be played live, and I think it would fit perfectly as a concert opener. The next song seems to be the song Alice chose to release and to play live to get everyone interested in the album, entitled I'll Bite Your Face Off. The song is pretty good, nothing more, nothing less. It was a welcome addition to the album though I don't quite know why Alice chose to use this song to promote it.
Now, the next song, entitled Disco Bloodbath Boogie Fever is by far the biggest "WTF" song on the album. The thing is, it's pretty damn good. The first half of the song has an almost disco-like dance vibe to it. The lyrics are a tad strange, but that's Alice for you. The song breaks out of it's disco-ness into a hard rocking almost metally half equipped with a monster solo. It's a tad weird, even for Alice, but it is very good. I think only Alice could pull off putting a disco/dance song on his rock album and make it work. Now, Ghouls Gone Wild...well, imagine Alice gone the Beach Boys. Very surf rockish, very catchy, and like it is supposed to, it makes you want to have some fun. It's not a great song, but it isn't awful either.
The next song on the album, entitled Something to Remember Me By is Welcome 2 My Nightmare's Only Women Bleed. It's a song that tries to be ballady, and a little something gets lost in the trying. It is probably the only song on the album that I would go as far as calling "boring." The following song, When Hell Comes Home kicks you in the face with an evil plodding riff from the second the song kicks off. The song never really get's any louder nor does it get softer from the song's, but it plods on with an evil intensity that is trademark Alice. The song is badass, and is by far the most "evil" of any track found on the album. The next song, What Baby Wants is probably the second biggest "WTF" song on the album. I mean, when you think Alice Cooper, you don't think Ke$ha. Thing is, the song works, and it works intensely well. It is tied with The Congregation for my favorite song on the album as of right now. The song is a rocker with an electronic feel pulsing through it. The song is catchy, it's badass, it's heavy at times, and it is just fucking awesome. Ke$ha works on the song, and it just makes you want to get up and do an inverted headbang dance. (Ok, that was my failed attempt at humor, it just makes you want to dance.) Now, I must warn, that most of you guys, especially the old fogies who expect old classic rock Alice on this album, will hate this song. I like it because their is an infectious pulsating dance groove throughout the entire thing that is much more evil and badass than I Was Made For Loving You.
The de facto last song on the album is entitled I Gotta Get Outta Here. It is definitely old Alice working here. The song is pretty happy, despite it's title and probable lyrical content (Escape anyone?) The songs is a pretty decent way to wrap up the story that is Welcome 2 My Nightmare. It's not a phenomenal song, but it works. It has a classic rock vibe to it, so it is a potential pleasure for all. The real album closer is an instrumental entitled The Underture which is just a megamix of some of the more famous bits and pieces of Welcome to My Nightmare and some bits from the new album played by his current band. To be honest, I find it rather superfluous, but I do understand Alice's need to wrap up the Welcome to My Nightmare duo and make everything come full circle.
Overall, the album's good. It has some really good songs, some that are middle of the road, and a few where there is a little something missing. I enjoyed it. I really did. I'd give it a solid 7/10. The problem is, when you have a man like Alice who has devoted the last 42 years making awesome music with albums like Killer, Welcome to My Nightmare, Hey Stoopid, Brutal Planet, and many more, a 7/10 kinda gets lost in the crowd. I enjoyed it and will continue to enjoy it until Alice releases another album in 2 or 3 years, at which point, he will be in his mid 60's. The man is an icon and he knows how to release good, enjoyable music, and here, he did just that.
Topic: The Alice Cooper thread (Read 70506 times)
