Dragontown

Artist: Alice Cooper
Label: Spitfire Records
Released: 2001
Type: Full-Length
Rating: 5/5 Skulls (1)

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Dragontown is the 22nd studio album by Alice Cooper. It was released in 2001 on Spitfire Records. Like Brutal Planet, the album displays a heavier metal style than many of his previous releases. It peaked on Billboard's "Top Independent Albums" Chart at #12, and the Billboard 200 at #197, his lowest album chart performance since 1983's DaDa, which did not chart at all.
This is the first Alice Cooper studio album to contain no singles.
It has been believed by many that the album is a sequel to 2000's Brutal Planet. The title song "Dragontown" mentions several characters from that album, such as the "wicked young man" from "Wicked Young Man", the "family of bones" from "Pick Up the Bones", and the lyrical hero from "It's the Little Things". While Dragontown is billed as the worst place on Brutal Planet, several songs are about Hell and who goes there, as opposed to the apocalyptic world of "Brutal Planet." The songs "I Just Wanna Be God" and "The Sentinel" are sung from Satan's perspective, as was "Gimme". "Sister Sara" deals with a nun who "lost her soul" ("Sister Sara/It's your penalty for eternity/Did you think that you were saved?"), and is stylistically reminiscent of the previous album's eponymous opener. "It's Much Too Late" contains direct references to the life of Alice's former drinking buddy, John Lennon, sung in a faux-Liverpudlian accent.
Doug Van Pelt, editor of the Christian music oriented HM Magazine, likened Cooper to C.S. Lewis, stating that he "grabs the devil's microphone and attempts to spill his guts and reveal his wicked schemes." Van Pelt further states that "It's Much Too Late" exposes "unrestrained truth" in stating that "The road to hell is littered with nice guys and good intentions..." and likens "Sex, Death and Money" to Proverbs 5 and isn't really about 'Sex, Death, and Money, but talks against it, as the Bible states.

Lineup

Alice Cooper - Vocals
Ryan Roxie (Electric Angels, Gilby Clarke) - Guitar
Tim Pierce - Guitar
Greg Smith - Bass
Kenny Aronoff (John Mellencamp, BoDeans, John Fogerty, Cinderella, Chickenfoot) - Drums
Bob Marlette - Rhythm Guitar/Bass/Keyboards


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