Classic rock with edge.
Coming off of the back of the Pandemonium Rocks festival alongside Blondie, ‘Killer’ is the first album that broke through for the creative giant that is Alice Cooper, and it shows just how far he and his antics have come since 1971.
It’s hard to believe that Alice Cooper has over 50 years of skin in the game. It’s also even more shocking to consider how far the guy has come from ‘Killer’, which has Alice’s signature horror antics all but absent and instead replaced with a genuine hard rock edge by Alice and his killer backing band.
Alice tells the story best himself as he was in the LA scene and watching his contemporaries pass away during that dark turn in America post the Manson Family murders. That darkness and enveloping danger is what Alice Cooper brings to the table here.
It’s easy to forget that the album lacks a longer track. Most of its runtime is taken up by ‘Halo of Flies’ and the title track, which show Alice fully capable of moving the format towards something bolder than just the radio rock hit. Of which, the opener ‘Under My Wheels’ is a perfect 3-minute blast to kick the record into full gear.
It makes sense that it eventually evolves into something more schlocky, but before the hits, there’s ‘Killer’ ticks all the boxes of a quintessential hard rock release. Rhythm, riffs and hooks burst out of this one with that energy that made that American moment so exciting
‘Killer’ is one of the classics for a reason. It still rocks over 50 years since its release and laid the groundwork for Alice Cooper to become a legend.
‘Killer’ is available in the Store now.