Customer Reviews

Brutal Planet

5 star:		(108)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Having been an Alice Cooper fan for well over ten years, I thought I knew what to expect from his latest outing, "Brutal Planet." Those expectations were thrown out the window upon first listening because there's no way to prepare for how near-perfect this disc is. "Brutal Planet" is Alice's best CD since the gory days of the original Alice Cooper Group, and the reason is simple: It's like nothing he's ever done. This is a charging, fist-pumping, head-banging version of the usual glam-style treatment we've come to expect from the master of all that is dark and unholy. Every track hits home in some aspect, whether political, social or personal. "Wicked Young Man," "Cold Machines" and "Sanctuary" prove that theory with a vengeance. Perhaps the best track, however, is "Take it Like a Woman," a throwback to "Only Women Bleed" that takes sentimentality on one of life's grimmest subjects to new heights.

Overall, anyone can prove that this planet is rotten, but no one can do a better job proving that the music on it doesn't need to be.

Brutal Planet is a 'Must Have' for metal/theatre enthusiasts. Alice (the real man), son of a minister, gives us something to seriously consider with this masterpiece. Yes, it's dark, but Alice has always excelled at portraying 'the shadow' figure and giving us something to laugh about at the same time. Aren't we all trying to reconcile the 'yin yang thang' which is our human existance? I admire Coop's ability to toss us a spiritual mickey without compromising his style. He is honest. He plays brilliantly from past material, that the 'faithful' will understand, but I'm not so certain that the disillusioned will catch the deeper meaning. It's my hope that they'll really listen and 'get it'. Gotta love him!

If there was justice you would'nt be able to turn on your local heavy/hard rock radio station without hearing Brutal Planet.Spitfire Records (part of Eagle Rock Entertainment)should be promoting this album,not just to long-time A.C. fans but to the "kids" also.The horrible state of our world and the screwed-up people in it is Alice's "nightmare" now-as well as ours.At least he knows its not the "movies I see,the music I dig,"etc. This album is the heaviest,most consistent album of his career.You'd have to go back to "Killer" to come close and then add better production,musicianship,and songwriting.I first saw Alice live in 1970 and he was the best show on the road then and when he comes to your town (or anywhere close)in support of this tremendous album, do yourself a favor and go.... Marilyn Manson? Give me a break! Bands like his and others like Metallica should "open" for the Coop.I'm in my mid-forties and I haven't mellowed a bit-and neither has the Coop.God bless 'em.Come on,Eagle Rock-push this record-it's one of the best albums in many,many years.

I must admit when I first heard this CD i was like "dude that aint Alice Copper". I mean it sounds like alice singing but this was a whole new experience.

After reading along one day (after watching Brutally Live: the DVD i realized.. "Wait!?!?! This stuff is real!"

Brutal Planet he seems to be speaking to God and those in Heaven about how they view Earth as a perfect creation, BUT we all live here on a Brutal Planet "spinning round on this ball of hate." Here's where we hung ya, up on an ugly cross!

Wicked young man seems to be about Columbine and the "Trench Coat Mafia" that shot up the school. Swatika's and Goose Steps, Blue Prints of the school!

It's The Little Things.. How many times has something happened to you that you keep hearing "dude tell me the story, what happened" when you finally go.. "If someone asks me again how I became homeless from Hurricane Ivan I am going to snap?!?!?!"

And Pick Up The Bones?!?!?! Is that about the Ethnic Cleansing in Bosnia or what?

Awesome album, but you have to really listen to what Alice has to say this time!!!

I am TRULY glad I made this album a major role in my aresonal...

Been a fan of AC since I was 4 (now 33). This is his BEST album ever!!! Still, it predacessors: DRAGONTOWN, THE EYES OF ALICE COOPER and DIRTY DIAMONDS can't touch this album. (Though EYES is a great, fun AC album,too).

This album is, well, BRUTAL. Lyricly it's sinister, tough and thought provoking with social angst=All the essential elements of a great AC album. It's all here on the title track,Eat Some More, Pick Up the Bones, Wicked Young Man and Blow Me A Kiss. Like Bob Ezrin did with KISS on REVENGE, he helps out again the Legendary Alice to make a top notch, heavy rock album. (Plus Eric Singer of KISS (The new CATMAN) drums on this Alice Gem = and Also did on the KISS: REVENGE album!!). From start to finish,you can't just listen to a handfull of tracks or listen to it halfway/It's the type of album you pop into the cd player and let it Rip!!! The production is awesome, sound is balls to the wall and all the track orders is the perfect flow of heavy hitting rock n' roll by the Godfather of Theatrical Rock!!! If I could, I'd give the cd 10 stars!!! FANTASTIC HEAVY ROCK ALBUM. Buy it!! It'll be worth every penny to have this cd in your heavy rock collection!!

I have been an Alice Cooper fan all my life. I have waited for so damn long to hear his new material. I really thought for awhile there that the man was gone for good...but what do you know! All I have to say after listening to 'Brutal Planet is "WOW! " It absolutely blew my mind away! Alice and Bob M. did an excellent job putting this masterpiece together. The rest of the band was absolutely phenomenal as well. From the lyrics to the sound, this was the piece that was missing in modern rock. It's really hard to decide which song was the best, but 'Pick up the bones' is an instant cooper classic, as well as 'Take it like a woman' It sounds like a perfect sequel to 'Only women bleed'. "you were his bleeding bride" I LOVE IT! The title track was amazing! 'Cold machines' rocked! This is a definite must have for any rock fan. He's still the master after all these years!

Isaiah 40:31 says that those who wait upon the Lord's timing will rise up with wings as eagles, shall not grow weary and will not faint.

Alice has never sounded so young. Like David Bowie or Todd Rundgren, Alice is not an oldies act by any means. These artists keep their music with the present times, and "Brutal Planet" speaks directly to the concerns of youth and young adulthood.

This follow-up to 1994's "The Last Temptation" (Cooper's first Christian-themed disc) finds Alice rocking much, MUCH harder than on that effort, while keeping the moral stance established there.

Heavy metal's sage tackles such themes as gluttony ("Eat Some More;" particularly interesting since he owns a restaurant. Wonder if he scribbled these lyrics on a napkin in the corner...), violence in the schools, in both "Wicked Young Man" and "Blow Me a Kiss." In the former he snarls controversially, "I got a pocket full of bullets and a blueprint of the school/I'm the devil's little soldier, I'm the devil's little tool."

Alice has said that this is intended to expose and stop this character. I hope it works. All I know is that the music does. This totally rocks!

"Blow Me a Kiss," he has told a Canadian internet magazine, is about the senselessness of the Columbine tragedy.

"Sanctuary" is--surprise!--NOT about church, but about a guy's place at home where he feels comfortable, and it's there only he feels good. It's a comic/tragic narrative about a guy who "needs to get some insurance 'cause [he]'ll prob'ly have a heart attack before [he]'s forty." (Yes, Alice plays a character. This 52-year-old man still sings "Eighteen" live!)

"Pick up the Bones" is as disgusting as it can be, but notice I gave this thing five stars. Alice has called what he does "great bad taste," and that's fitting. It's about the possibility of a nuclear fallout, the aftermath of which finds almost no one alive. Damn him for the great music backing this tasteless diatribe! (grin)

"Pessi-Mystic" is about disillusionment with seers and soothsayers, wondering how shaky is their source of "wisdom."

"Gimme" exposes the devil again, as the red-horned one promises to give fame and fortune: "I really hate to repeat myself," the character says, "but nothing's free."

"It's the Little Things" is definitely the funniest and lyrically lightest piece on this dark disc.

"Cold Machines" is the "worst track," but note again I gave it five stars. It sounds like a thing Popeye would do! But then if there were a new Popeye movie, it'd make a great theme!

I can hear the muscles, I can hear the spinach. Yes, it's cartoonish. Yes, I gave it five stars!

"Take it Like a Woman" is "Only Women Bleed 2000." It's the only ballad on this otherwise hard, brooding disc. I'll let the women comment on this one, but I think it falls into the category of "one for the ladies."

This leaves the title track, which begins it all: "It's such a brutal planet/It's such a living hell/This was a holy garden/That's right where Adam fell."

I wonder how that would go over in public school, the ones where the "wicked young man" hangs out!

I had read the lyrics before I heard this, and the music illumines them and makes for a tough, bold, and yes five-star disc. It's very hard, and very, very good. It has a young, industrial feel almost throughout.

(Don't forget to catch him on tour, for which he has brought back the guillotine. Don't just be a Christian... be a Christian on the edge!)

The second album in Cooper's Christian morality play trilogy finds Cooper and the band in "brutal" form. This is a seriously heavy album, but not in the same way as his 80's hair metal period. This down and dirty heavy ground rumbling metal release. Musically Cooper goes in a completely different direction from his last disc, but it comes off as fresh and relevant. There is very little of the trademark Cooper humor to be found here. The Coop is pissed off and not going to take it any more. The lyrics are very serious dealing with the state of the world we live in today. The album is a full on rant with one of Alice's most powerful collection of musicians backing him up. The album was co-written with guitar, bass, keys man Bob Marlette. The band also features ex Kiss drummer Eric Singer and guitarist Ryan Roxie who would become Cooper's main writing partner on the next few albums after this one. "Brutal Planet" is the darkest, heaviest album of Cooper's career and just about every song on it is a good one. Some highlights include the opener "Brutal Planet" pounds the listener with the description of a world where existence is indeed perilous and difficult. Cooper's vocal sneer indeed conjures up images of a truly loathsome place. "Sanctuary" is a comment on 9 to 5 working "zombies" and the life they (us) live in. "Eat Some More" takes on the subject of world starvation as only Alice could word it. "It's The Little Things" is the only song on the album with even a trace of humor. It harkens back to the past by quoting "No More Mr. Nice Guy" and "Welcome To My Nightmare". "Pessi Mystic" almost sounds like Black Sabbath at times finding Alice taking on psychics, and CNN with the chorus of "shut up, shutp" it is another powerful vicious song "Take It like A Woman" is pretty much a sequel to "Only Women Bleed". The album closer "Cold Machines" sees Cooper beating modern day wannabe Marylyn Manson at his own game. All the rest of the songs on the album are also solid. After a career as long as Alice's he really has nothing left to prove, but on "Brutal Planet" he proves that he can still put out relevant thought provoking music as good as people half his age.

Awesome! This album rocks real hard. It would fit right on cutting edge radio and blow away 95% of the crap they play. If you don't have this album buy it. Where else can you find lyrics like:

"I've got every kind of chemical pumping through my head;
I read Mein Kempf daily just to keep my hatred fed;
I never ever sleep, I just lay in bed;
Dreaming of the day when everyone is dead"

This is not the typical mind of a fifty-something year old man, (except maybe Stephen King). ALICE STILL RULES!

Alice has never rocked harder! The thumping bass and pounding drums in the title track contribute to, in my opinion, truly his first entry into the "heavy metal" genre. This is the Master at his finest, illustrating the sorry state of the world today. With no apologies he launches into the "Wicked Young Man" of Columbine who reads Mein Kampf daily to feed his hatred addiction ("I got a pocket full of bullets and a blueprint of the school.") In "Sanctuary," an ode to modern day paranoia, Alice tells of his struggle to escape a conformist society where Everyman wears "the same gray suit," takes "the same headache pills," then "goes home, thinks about suicide (but he's got his diploma, ya gotta give him that!") My personal favorite is the explosively postal "It's the Little Things," wherein we are warned that AC is a "psychopathic mad dog on a short leash." He doesn't care if you burn down his house, steal his car and drive it into the lake, or throw a brick thru his window pane--"but if you talk in the movies I'll kill you right there." (And don't you DARE ask him how he got his name!) We truly are spinning 'round on this ball of hate... An absolute MUST for anyone who's into Alice Cooper!