Published on Oct 4, 2001
Another masterpiece from the Alice Cooper group!!!
Killer hit the store shelves only a few months after the
fantastic
Love It To Death (back in a time when bands couldn’t take
three godamn years between each album, and then release a turd
anyway), and not only did it continue the brilliance of that album,
but in some ways it’s even better.
It’s rawer, heavier, creepier, meaner, weirder and more sinister
than its predecessor, and if I’m not mistaken, the tour to support
this album was the one that sealed their fate as satan worshipping
infidels in the eyes of Bible thumping rednecks and outraged,
paranoid, neurotic middle class parents, by corrupting the innocent
minds of the world’s youth with theie violent stage spectacle and
twisted lyrics. This ongoing controversy only served to generate
more exposure and curiosity for the band, which I’m sure suited the
members just fine. Once again, Bob Ezrin guided the band into more
groundbreaking territory.
It all starts off with a blistering pace with the classic garage
rock song “Under My Wheels”, which I personally think would make
the perfect companion soundtrack to our current era of road rage!
“Be My Lover”, the next song, despite a slight similarity to the
main guitar riff on “Is It My Body” from the previous album, soon
settles into its own personality and is quite a terrific pop tune
with an instantly hummable melody and sleazy lyrics.
“Halo Of Flies” is an unorthodox multi-part epic track with
lyrics about spies and espionage! The band often looked towards the
movies for inspiration when crafting their totally original
sounding songs, and this song is one of their finest moments…if
only the production was a tad thicker, the song’s ultimate
potential ferocity could be fully realized. “Desperado” just might
be my favourite number on here. Nice classical acoustic intro
before it just explodes electrically amid Alice’s patented growl,
singing about bounty hunters to a theme that brings to mind the
classic spaghetti westerns of the 60’s that launched Clint
Eastwood’s fame (By the way, Alice wrote this song for Jim Morrison
when they were drinking buddies).
“You Drive Me Nervous” unfortunately suffers from a botched
production job, sounding rather flat, as if it had been recorded
from behind a wall. This does not however take away from the fact
that it is yet another very solid, percussion-driven heavy song
with yet another over the top vocal performance from our favourite
ghoulish frontman.
“Dead Babies” was another infamous hit, and stirred up great
controversy at the time among right wing religious groups who
blasted the song as promoting the killing of children, but we all
know better than them don’t we?? MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
In all seriousness, if you pay attention to the lyrics, they
actually criticize the mindless people in society who neglect their
children…of course, if you go on stage in front of thousands of
people every night and decapitate and/or impale baby dolls to
convey your message, I can sorta see where the misconception might
come from, and in the early 70’s, right after the sensitive era of
peace and flower power, any kind of publicity generated by Alice
Cooper, rock’s first villain, sure wasn’t going to hurt record
sales!
The original band members said that about two thirds of the
album is instrumental, and gosh golly, it’s true! There are
numerous long winded instrumental passages that zig zag all over
the place. That’s one of the album’s major strengths; the music is
extremely dynamic, constantly shifting gears and exploring new
territory, like the soundtrack to a movie! And considering the
theatrical nature of their live show, this should come as no
surprise. You can just hear how certain parts were specifically
crafted to evoke a certain mood in tandem with what’s supposed to
happen on stage, like the spooky organ driven gothic death march
melody in the title track, which was usually played when poor Alice
was being marched to the scaffold to get his head lopped off! Just
fucking awesome music…why can’t bands compose dramatically like
this nowadays?? Keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole
time.
In great contrast to our current day emphasis on predictable
singles,
Killer is an album that takes you on a musical journey
through long, meandering instrumental passages that manage to
successfully combine endlessly fascinating theatrical melodies with
inventive musicianship without ever becoming redundant, boring, or
wanky…folks, this kind of truly talented rock songwriting just
doesn’t get created anymore.
Unfortunately, bands with the brilliant visual and musical
dynamics of Alice Cooper are very rare. This group’s consistency
astounds me just as much though; bands that take so many
groundbreaking musical chances are more liable to have miss-steps
along the way than those who stride the safe and easy route, but it
seems that they simply could do no wrong. This album, like the vast
majority of Alice Cooper releases, is the very antithesis of
genericism.
All
Killer, no filler! Ha!