Instead of welcoming us to his nightmare, Alice invites to us to his Brutal Planet.

I usually hear about new albums from bands that I like before a lot of other people do. So I knew that this album didn't get much publicity when I didn't hear about it until a year after its release.

I know I complain about the music industry a lot, but it seems like unless it's something teenagers go nuts over, the industry likes to quietly release it and then sweep it under the rug. I could be wrong, but I doubt it. Let's face it, I don't think we'll see any of these songs on NOW 50 or however many there are now. They seem to make five of those per week. But what do I care, it's not my kind of music. Thank God!

Nope, they won't think twice about Alice Cooper unless he comes out with a Just Push Play kind of album which made me lose all respect for the once great Aerosmith. It's clear to me that Brutal Planet was only supposed to reach his core fans.

Brutal Planet has some amazing songs that all seem to deal with issues facing the country and world these days. Not to mention the heavy, brooding music that sets the mood of most of the album.

The title track is about how we've taken this world we've been given and turned it from a paradise into a "ball of hate" where "there's no parole, no great escape". This is an awesome song that I think Alice speaks his mind about what we've been doing to each other and the planet. The vocals and lyrics are angry and honest and the music is the same.

"Wicked Young Man" takes the words right out of mouth. It's about how the only thing responsible for the voilent crimes committed by teenagers are the people themselves. I've thought this way for a long time and it's about time there's a song saying the same thing. If you've never heard this song before, you might want to look up the lyrics. All these people are quick to blame everything else but the person who did it, especially after the Columbine Tragedy, and this song could directly be about that event. Here's the chorus of it:
I am a vicious young man,
I am a wicked young man,
It's not the games that I play,
The movies I see,
The music I dig,
I'm just a wicked young man.

"Sanctuary" is fast paced, smart @$$ song that I haven't quite figured out, but it kind of reminds me of myself when I was a teenager. My bedroom was my sanctuary away from everything else and I was hardly ever anywhere else. I called it my cave.

Despite what you might think "Blow Me A Kiss" is not a love song. As far as I know it's about hate crimes and maybe just crime itself. But it's hard to tell what Alice Cooper means all the time. It's a cool song though.

I think that "Eat Some More" might be about how we waste a lot of things, but want more anyway. Mainly how we waste tons of food and yet there are starving people all over. Just like most of the songs, this one has clever and ironic lyrics. This song is also one of the heaviest on here.

Now we come to my favorite song on here "Pick Up The Bones". Alice always has to have at least one twisted song on his albums, and this is one of them. It's the angriest song on here with matching vocals, an awesome guitar solo, and my favorite chorus of the whole album. I could see Ozzy doing this song. It would've been cool if he sang a little on here with Alice.

Alice seems to really speak his mind again in "Pessi-mystic" where he talks about not wanting to watch the news because of how bad things have gotten, and that he's "Pessi-mystic" about the future. Clever lyrics, but generic music(good solo though).

"Gimme" is simply about greed. Not much more to say. It's repetitive and probably the most boring song on here, besides the slightly above average lyrics. But I usually end up skipping it.

This song is Alice saying "It's The Little Things" that pi$$ him off. "Welcome To My Nightmare" and "No More Mr. Nice Guy" are talked about. The song is almost a seguel to "No Mr. Nice Guy". I wish the music would've been the same style.

"Take It Like A Woman" is a lot like "Only Women Bleed". Alice has to throw a ballad in here or there. It's not a bad song, but it's on the other side of the world of the rest of the album. Kind of threw me off a little.

The end comes with "Cold Machines". I think it's about how our lives have become nothing but a routine, and how some people are just machines to the people they work for. It also talks about what the future might bring. The guitars and rhyme scheme during the chorus kind of remind me of some of stuff Alice did in the 80's and early 90's. This is yet another song with clever lyrics, and is just a cool song.

Well some of you might be saying "Alice who?" or "Oh yeah isn't he the guy who did School's Out? I never heard any of his other stuff though." or maybe you're saying "She sounds like a guy." HA HA If you are saying any of these things, but you're thinking about giving HIS music a chance, this isn't a bad CD to start with. Hey it might make you want to check out his earlier stuff. If you're already an Alice Cooper fan like me, I don't think you'll be disappointed by Brutal Planet.

Recommended: Yes