Alice Cooper
Welcome to My Nightmare

"Welcome to My Nightmare" is one of those releases that, 40 years later, might seem a bit musically dated, but not textually, and especially not in terms of the timeless message it contains, suspended amidst the album's notes.

The honor of opening this journey into the mind of Steven (a necrophiliac serial killer) is given to the title track, with a sometimes funky and joyful stride that, despite this, still keeps us focused on the theme at hand. It is a characteristic of our Alice to juxtapose macabre lyrics with sometimes cheerful arrangements, with humor as sharp as knives. Much more haunting is the next track "Devil's Food" with a truly hard rock riff in Cooper's style, agonized screams following the introduction, and Vincent Price's voice that gives us a unique unease, pronouncing words normally, yet his voice makes them sound like the harbinger of a nightmare about to unfold. We then arrive at "The Black Widow," a song many consider the best on the album, but to be honest, it doesn't say anything special to me. In this song, Steven is caught in the web of the black widow (one of his greatest nightmares) and struggles to free himself, fighting against the spiders holding him captive. "Some Folks" is a jazz-style song that makes us understand Steven is developing murderous instincts; it's an enjoyable track and in my opinion, one of the most beautiful of Cooper's entire career. To each their own. It's time for the album's ballad, "Only Women Bleed," a strongly chauvinistic song that gives us an insight into what Steven thinks of women. In this song, Alice abandons the raspy tone in favor of a warm and enveloping voice. Make way for one of the hardest rock tracks I've ever heard; it's time for "Department of Youth" with its chorus that grabs you and takes you to a world of youthful revolution, complete with a choir of young kids. But the real and pure hard rock is "Cold Ethyl," a hard rock stamped bomb of a track from start to finish, telling the story of Steven's relationship with the dead body of Ethyl, a corpse stored in the refrigerator. Haunting and disorienting is the next track "Years Ago," recalling Steven's childhood when he was rejected by both children and adults. This song uses a macabre circus-like tune that makes everything even more traumatic. The curtain rises, and here's the song I define as "theater in music," "Steven." The anguish takes over; this is my absolute favorite song by Alice Cooper. It's pure theater with pianos, trumpets, and falsettos taking center stage. Here, we witness the transformation from innocent to killer, with madness dominating Steven's mind in a delirious frenzy... MASTERPIECE. Was it just a dream? Steven remembers nothing of what happened. He's hungry, thirsty, and his hands are stained with blood. "The Awakening" is the awakening from the nightmare, and with its haunting chorus, it makes us understand Steven's desire to remember what happened, but he cannot and this deeply troubles him. We have reached the conclusion of the journey. Closing this album violently with its melody is "Escape," which tells of Steven's desire to flee but also Alice Cooper's relationship with the beast named alcohol.

A MASTERPIECE OF ROCK AND MUSIC ENTIRELY