Band:	Alice Cooper
Album:	Along Came A Spider
Style:	Hard rock, Glam rock
Release date:	July 25, 2008
A review by:	Jeff

01. I Know Where You Live (Prologue)
02. Vengeance Is Mine
03. Wake The Dead
04. Catch Me
05. (In Touch With) Your Feminine Side
06. Wrapped In Silk
07. Killed By Love
08. Hungry
09. The One That Got Away
10. Salvation
11. I Am The Spider (Epilogue)

In 2005, "Dirty Diamonds" was a great come back to the Garage Rock period of Alice Cooper and "Along Came A Spider", his new album, follows a bit this way with however some good modern musical orientations. One more time Alice produces a great album of Rock N Roll with a delicious old school attitude but with a modern spirit nonetheless. The fans of Alice Cooper shouldn't be disappointed one more time, even if "Along Came A Spider" is not so easy of access but with time and patience I'm sure that you'll love this new album.

"Along Came A Spider" is a conceptual album which will tell you the story of a serial killer, named Spider, who wants to create a spider with the legs of height victims (I know serial killers and? Alice Cooper are weird?). Everything will be perfect until that Spider falls in love of his final victim, a beautiful girl. During the eleven songs Alice "is" Spider and his vocal performance his simply amazing. The monster of Rock was really inspired during the writing process and recording of the album because there is a real soul behind each song. You'll not simply listen to music, you'll live this story and believe me, you'll "trust" what Alice will say to you. "Along Came A Spider" is not a really easy of access album and its main problem maybe is its lack of real hits, except maybe the great dark "Vengeance Is Mine". But this is not so problematic actually because "Along Came A Spider" is dark and this is the great side of the album. Alice Cooper wanted to produce something disturbing and horrific and he managed to do it. "Along Came A Spider" with this serial killer story is probably one of his most depressive album but of course one more time you'll have a part of dream and humanity too. Also I like the fact that the album can sound modern like on the tracks "Wake The Dead" or "Catch Me If You Can" but always with a cool old school attitude. Don't expect anything a la "Trash" here, we're not in front of a new Hard FM release, "Along Came A Spider" is full of old school sonorities which were the mark of Alice Cooper during the 70's but with a smart and intelligent process Alice Cooper and his musicians have managed to do something which really sound modern. As an example, "(In Touch With) Your Feminine Side" has a good Rock N Roll chorus but the riff sounds Hard Rock nonetheless. "Along Came A Spider" is not a commercial album and I suppose that some people who just listen to Alice Cooper for the "party" songs will be disappointed but I hope that they will try to give some time to the release because its deserves it and the songs are deep really.

Even if the musicians are the "live" musicians of Alice Cooper, I have the feeling this time that we have a real band harmony and it doesn't sound like some simple studio interpretations. Co-Produced by Danny Saber, Greg Hampton and Alice Cooper himself, the sound of "Along Came A Spider" is just fantastic and marry perfectly vintage and modern days of Cooper's long career. This new release is among the best production of Alice Cooper, a way better than the one of "Dirty Diamonds", and when you know that we have some guests like Slash?

As you know now, "Along Came A Spider" is a special album. Really well done but really dark and naughty, the music of this new release will be disturbing for a lot of people. But one more time believe me when I say that "Along Came A Spider" is a really good album. After 40 years of music, it's great to see that Alice Cooper is still able to write great albums, and even if "Along Came A Spider" is maybe not his best releases, this is a honorable and intelligent album. Alice Cooper is still the prince of darkness, let's hope that he will reign again during a long years.