Description
Alice Cooper – Brutal Planet – RSD 180 Gram Brutal Brown Vinyl Record
Limited to 5,000 units
Gatefold 2 Pocket Sleeve.
Record Store Day 2021 STP-LP15038.
Alice Cooper – Brutal Planet, released in 2000, marks a dark and heavy turn in Alice Cooper’s extensive discography, embracing a modern industrial metal sound paired with some of the most bleak and socially critical lyrics of his career. Moving away from the shock rock theatrics of his ’70s heyday and the glam-metal polish of his ’80s output, Brutal Planet positions Cooper as a doomsayer for the new millennium, offering a scathing critique of human behavior, societal decay, and spiritual emptiness.
The album is steeped in the aggressive aesthetics of late ’90s and early 2000s metal, influenced by the likes of Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, and Nine Inch Nails. It features crushing guitar riffs, down-tuned distortion, industrial textures, and pounding drums, giving the album a cold, mechanical edge. Guitarist Ryan Roxie and producer/guitarist Bob Marlette helped shape this intense sonic direction, which perfectly complements the record’s apocalyptic tone.
Cooper is in full fire-and-brimstone preacher mode, adopting the persona of a narrator who walks listeners through a world spiraling into violence, vanity, addiction, abuse, and moral collapse. Songs like:
“Brutal Planet” – the title track and mission statement, describing Earth as a desolate, corrupted place where humanity has embraced cruelty as normal.
“Wicked Young Man” – delves into the mind of a school shooter or social outcast, eerily prophetic and psychologically unsettling.
“Blow Me a Kiss” and “Gimme” – explore themes of manipulation, temptation, and spiritual warfare, with “Gimme” taking the form of a conversation with the Devil.
“Take It Like a Woman” – offers a stark portrayal of domestic abuse, flipping gender expectations and revealing Cooper’s willingness to engage with heavy topics.
While Brutal Planet is thematically grim, it’s also one of Cooper’s most conceptually focused albums, blending horror theatrics with real-world commentary. There’s less camp here and more moral urgency, suggesting that the greatest horrors aren’t monsters under the bed, but the ones within ourselves and our institutions.
Cooper adopts a lower, growlier delivery that fits the industrial-metal sound—less theatrical but more menacing. Yet even in this heavier setting, his storytelling instincts and charisma shine through, giving weight to the album’s dystopian narratives.
Though Brutal Planet received mixed reviews at the time—some fans missed the classic rock flair—it has since been reappraised as one of his boldest artistic statements of the post-‘80s era. It launched what some consider a loose thematic trilogy, followed by Dragontown (2001) and later concept-driven albums like The Eyes of Alice Cooper and Along Came a Spider.
Brutal Planet is dark, unflinching, and unapologetically heavy, an album that trades in spectacle for substance, challenging listeners to confront uncomfortable truths. It’s a must-listen for fans of Cooper’s more serious work and those interested in the intersection of shock rock and industrial metal with real-world bite.
Brand new, never played and still sealed in the factory plastic
Track Listing
Brutal Planet
Wicked Young Man
Sanctuary
Blow Me A Kiss
Eat Some More
Pick Up The Bones
Pessi-mystic
Gimme
It’s The Little Things
Take It Like A Woman
Cold Machines
