Alice Cooper, Paranormal review: No signs of growing old gracefully | London Evening Standard

Alice Cooper, Paranormal review: No signs of growing old gracefullyAlice Coopers first album of original material in six years features crunching riffd and ludicrous lyricsCooper's back: the rocker has released new material for the first time in six years

Review at a glance

Schools are, indeed, out for summer, so what better time for Alice Cooper to release his first album of original material in six years?

Fans of the shock-rock supremo will be relieved to learn that, at 69, the former Vincent Furnier shows no signs of growing old gracefully.

Paranormal — 12 new tracks, plus a bonus CD of live recordings — keeps the riffs crunching and the lyrics ludicrous. “The spider web kiss on your face / That familiar smell, just a trace,” sings Cooper on the ghoulishly bad title track.

Yet amid the Spinal Tap-isms there are great tunes. Private Public Breakdown has a chorus to wake the dead, and Genuine American Girl — featuring the original Alice Cooper Band line-up — sounds like a heavy-rock remake of The Beach Boys.

There’s life in the old dog yet.