Review of the Album "Dragontown" by Hard Rock Singer Alice Cooper

Alice Cooper is one of the most recognizable names in the history of American rock. His 2001 album Dragontown however deserves a review because it may be overlooked by many of his fans. It is heavier than his earlier releases but in this situation this turns out to be an asset for him. I used to have this album and the decision to review this album was also to be grateful for what Alice Cooper has done for hard rock in the United States. He has played music professionally for almost 50 years and had good albums in at least three different decades. He is not a high pitched or a terrific low pitched singer but he sings well for the hard rock style.

Dragontown is said to have a heavier metal style than his previous releases and Triggerman, the first song is evidence of this heaviness. However, Dragontown was at #197 of the Billboard 200 music charts which would end up being his lowest chart performance since DaDa in 1983 which did not chart at all. Even so, what you are about to hear on this album is some pretty darn solid heavy metal!

After a solid opening song called "Triggerman," we are introduced to the slower and darker song called "Deeper." The song is trying to point out that in life we must be careful if the walls start to close in on us especially if there really ends up being a hole in the floor that we may fall through.

I got to know about Alice Cooper’s music because of albums such as Hey Stoopid and Trash but Dragontown is a more modern album that uses heavier guitars, atmospheric sounds, and a crunchier feel. "Dragontown" the song shows even heavier guitars and even Alice’s voice gets harsher. The song is a great one because Alice keeps on saying the words “come on.” Even though this album is over 16 years old it still is one of the strongest albums for one of hard rock’s longest tenured vocalists. The song called Sex, Death and Money is a song about the three things that really sell in this world and complaining about them usually doesn’t get us very far. Dragontown is a song that has a very exotic beginning to it, sort of like early 2000’s Amorphis and it’s got this Middle Eastern kind of feel to it.

Fantasy Man is a very heavy rock song describing a man that tells his lover that he is not like the man that she expects him to be. He lets her know that he will not change himself and that she should accept him for the way that he is. He just sits around and watches TV but does not do much else around the house. The song called Somewhere in the Jungle is a song about the negative effects of genocide around the world.

But this writer especially loves the song called Every Woman Has a Name. This ballad was always one of my favorite songs even back in the 2000’s and especially today as we take this trip down memory lane. Every woman that survives a harsh life full of ups and downs lives to tell of their tales and they should be proud of their survival because they were strong enough to not let anything bring them down.

Alice Cooper is one of the best aspects of the United States not just as a hard rock singer but as a cultural symbol. He does not have a super high voice but he makes it sound good enough so you can appreciate what he has done since the 1960's. The bottom line is that Dragontown is one of Alice Cooper’s best releases for those fans that want to give his early 2000’s releases a chance. It’s Much Too Late is a very good rock song that is not heavy and it is a song about people going to hell after they have died. No matter how much they plead their case to GOD, it looks like their souls will not be saved. The good songs in this album are many including Triggerman, Deeper, Dragontown, Fantasy Man, and Every Woman Has a Name. With the amount of quality songs and the maturity of the guitar work Dragontown gets no less than 85 points out of 100.