Published on Oct 22, 2001
Let me get this straight: for the 1987 follow-up to the previous
year’s disastrous
Constrictor studio album (please see my
scathing review of that disc),
Alice Cooper somehow managed to convince himself that rehashing the
same formula that makes
Constrictor unlistenable would be a good idea. Don’t ask me
what his logic is based on, because it sure wasn’t a result of
record sales.
Whew…before you even listen to this album, it’s exceedingly
difficult to remain optimistic about the sounds awaiting you
judging by the awfully bad cover artwork (just look at the picture
at the top of this review should you need to dislodge a particle
stuck in your throat) and the woefully conceived album title,
Raise Your Fist And Yell, which practically screams
desperation in trying to appeal to a teenage audience. C’mon
Alice…you’ve never had to stoop to such simple mindedness before.
It’s really kind of sad to see how at the time he was floundering
around trying to regain the songwriting skills that he seems to
have left at the detox centre.
In any case,
Raise Your Fist And Yell offers up another serving of really
loud, dumb 80’s heavy metal. Predictable and silly in every way
imaginable, and I highly recommend leaving your brain elsewhere, as
it certainly won’t be needed.
Know what though? As ridiculous as this album is, it’s actually
fun to listen to! Strangely enough, in its very limited purpose it
succeeds in every way that Constrictor failed, even though
musically they are very similar.
First of all, this is a very heavy album, and it sounds a lot
more aggressive than its predecessor, with several main machine gun
type guitar riffs nearly approaching thrash metal speeds (“Roses On
White Lace”, “Freedom”), and the rest of the Judas Priest style
riffs sound darker and quite a bit meaner than any we’ve heard from
Alice Cooper up to this point in his career. Dare I say that some
of the riffs are even pretty catchy? Seems like Kane Roberts
learned a few things about developing more interesting guitar
playing techniques in between recording sessions…hell, even his
solos this time around have some semblance of melody.
They got a new drummer for this release, but he sounds only
marginally more skilled than the last guy, using the same
simplistic mid tempo beat without fills on virtually every track.
People might think the drummer’s role is not terribly important,
but it’s quite astonishing how drastically a bad drummer can affect
the quality of a release…just look at this album for
evidence!
A few other noticeable changes make this album radically more
listenable than
Constrictor, one of which is Alice. On
Constrictor he sounded utterly lost, like he sleepwalked
through his vocal parts, but here he sounds like his old fiery self
again, giving a very confident, commanding performance,
appropriately growling and delivering the lyrics with the kind of
sneer needed for such horrific subject matter.
As laughably simplistic as these lyrics are, I swear they will
have you in tears…that’s how funny they are. They try so hard to
be a rebellious fuck you to the establishment (“Lock Me Up”, “Give
The Radio Back”), mean spirited posturing (“Step On You”, “Not That
Kind Of Love”), and cartoonish gore filled horror (“Time To Kill”,
“Chop Chop Chop”, and the surprising classical harpsichord ballad
“Gail”). It’s hilarious how cliched this stuff is, and even if the
laughs are unintentional, at least it provides a perverse form of
enjoyment at its own expense.
The sub-par songwriting that contaminates the vast majority of
the record definitely hugely benefits from the much improved
production. Everything is loud and clear, and the riffs sound
positively monstrous, the way they should.
Raise Your Fist And Yell is far from an essential Alice
Cooper purchase, but it’s not quite a throwaway either,
particularly during his lean years from the mid 80’s to early 90’s.
The band sounds very energetic and determined, and despite the
continued poor songwriting quality, there are a few impressive
riffs here and there, and don’t be surprised to find yourself
humming the melodic hooks of a number of the choruses, cheesy
though they may be.
I wouldn’t dare to venture forth the notion that there’s
anything resembling a concept here, but I don’t think it’s a
stretch to see that there’s an obvious nod to cheesy 80’s slasher
flicks running through all the songs, which are all quite similar
sounding to each other. Even though the album isn’t meant to be
taken seriously (knowing Alice’s humour), it suffers the same fate
as the low grade celluloid gorefests that seem to have served as
its inspiration: it may be funny, but that’s because it’s so bad
that it’s funny, and although on its own provides some form of
entertainment, it seems very weak indeed when compared with Alice
Cooper’s truly classic albums. I heard someone once say that ”
Raise Your Fist And Yell is the equivalent of an Ed Wood
movie in that you’ll laugh at how bad it is”.