Alice? Who the f*** is Alice?!

Alice Cooper, that's who. Vincent Furnier. The Coop. The man who changed the course of rock 'n' roll forever, and looked mighty fine doing it.

Yes, I am fully aware that this blog is LONG overdue, but this intrepid blogger has been busy with other commitments.

On August 29th, Alice Cooper himself graced the fair Thebarton Theater, bringing his latest rock spectacular, the Theatre of Death tour, to Australia. The atmosphere was nothing short of electric, the crowd eagerly awaiting the first glimpse of this superb performer.

The banner fell to the floor, and Alice emerged to wild cheers, immediately launching into School's Out - a peculiar choice for an opener, but a good one nonetheless. Disregarding the security staff's warnings to stay seated for the first four songs, the audience opted to follow the advice of the guitarists, dashing from their seats to lean on the stage and dance to further hits like Department of Youth and the classic I'm Eighteen.

Stalking around the stage, Alice proved he can still rock with the hardest with the industrial stomper Wicked Young Man and reminded us that he can hold his own better than those forty years his junior. After all, when you're seeing a man whose career has lasted since the tail end of the sixties, and is continuing into the new milennium and his own sixth decade of existence, you expect nothing but the best.

Though the acoustics were a let-down - Alice's microphone was barely audible over the music and general excitement at times - the crowd more than made up for it, belting out the anthems as loud as Alice himself. The master of darkness chose to play it safe for the night, selecting "classic Alice" - inclusions like The Ballad of Dwight Fry and Go To Hell cemented the fact that this was anything but an albumsupport tour. In fact, only one song from latest offering Along Came a Spider was selected - the sneering Vengeance is Mine.

With four executions, numerous constumes, an angle grinder, evil masks, spider arms, a wheel-on staircase, a gallows, iron maiden, guillotine and lethal injection as big as Alice himself, this was clearly a show as memorable as the man himself. From the opening (anthem School's Out) to the closer (er... School's Out, again, this time delivered in a silver and white suit complete with coattails and top-hat), Alice delivered song after song, throwing everything to the crowd - fake money, balloons, confetti, guitar picks, pearl necklaces, and even his cane. The old man certainly proved he's got at least one more tour in him yet!

Rock on, Alice. You keep coming, we'll keep going.

A couple of quick notes.

I'm aware I haven't blogged in a while, but I recently wrote in to Kerrang magazine nominating my top three albums of the 21st century. Because Trivium asked their fans on Facebook to vote for them. The same way I joined Twitter because Universum asked me to...


"I just felt I had to nominate three albums that have made the biggest impact on me these last few years. It's hard for me to pick just three, but - oh, screw that diplomatic bullshit; these won by a landslide.

Trivium - Shogun (2008)
This album blew me away completely as soon as I heard it. It's a perfect blend of metalcore and Metallica-style thrash, served straight up with no frills attached. It's metaphorical, powerful, and has some teriffic anthems on it - Down From the Sky and Kirisute Gomen are two of the best songs I've heard this century, and the title track could damn well represent everything the band has worked for in its eleven minutes of progressive brutality and near-operatic choruses. I saw Trivium live in May, and they played all the right tracks. They know how to work a crowd, and they know how to record incredible albums.

Alice Cooper - Along Came A Spider (2008)
The grandfather of shock rock, and one of the first influences on heavy metal, has returned with a stomping, hook-laden album that hearkens back to his garage days, while being infused with a heavier resonance and a killer guitar solo from Slash. Darker than Brutal Planet and somehow more sensual than Trash, Alice has churned out another album well worthy of classic status. I look forward to seeing Alice in late August, and he's been one of, if not my favourite musical figure for many years now. His metamorphosis has never been more apparent.

Universum - Leto Destinatus (2008)
Universum are from my hometown, so maybe I have a slight bias, but since they only formed in early '08 and have already supported DragonForce and Cradle of Filth on their Australian tours, they're nothing to sniff at. Leto Destinatus is a brutal melodic album sweeping the listener along at breakneck speed. The vocals, guitars, and keyboards all combine to beautifully devastating effect on the title track and War of Ages. I'm seeing them in about three weeks, and they should be even better as headliners. More than anything else this album has shown me that living in Adelaide has not cursed me to being talentless!"


I also forgot to get on here on Sunday and wish Robb Flynn of Machine Head a happy 41st birthday. Whoops.

Happy fuckin' birthday, Robb. \m/

Yeah, I know nobody reads this, least of all Flynn himself, but meh. Maybe it'll get some of you to listen to Machine Head, one of the best bands out there.

Check out "Halo", and try telling me it's not fucking awesome. If you like that, just go out and buy the whole album, The Blackening, because it's without a doubt one of the best I've heard, and if you like awesome metal and know what's good for you, you'll feel the same way.

That's it for now. Maybe I'll actually write another fucking blog sometime.

If there's anything you want me to talk about in my next post, any suggestions, questions, album reviews, etc, just put it here and I WILL do it. Put as much as you want. I mean it. I need things to talk about, otherwise I'll just blather on about crap nobody cares about.

That's it for now,

~Ronnie