Reviewed by Pippa Rimmer

Christendom was much encouraged when 70s hell raiser Alice Cooper confessed his new found Christian faith. Fans of heavy rock weren't t disappointed by his 1996 offering 'The Last Temptation'. 'Brutal Planet' is the much-awaited follow up with all the usual heavy rock whistles and bells in place. The album covers the hopelessness of this brutal planet we inhabit - the sin and ugliness we are exposed to, the mess we create each day and the senselessness of it all. Laudable sentiments that we aft feet from time to time but at least we can usually muster up some faith to believe that it's not all that bad really and that God is in control whatever the circumstance. Worryingly, Brutal Planet is devoid of such hope and I struggled to find a fragment of faith in the whole thing. The title track informs us that "it's such a brutal planet, such a living hell; it was a holy garden that's right where Adam fell" while imploring "Why don t you come down?" to a God who has already visited this planet with his love and salvation. The song continues in the same vein: the horror of it all, the ugliness of the crucifixion and the holocaust, but it still left me waiting for the positive antithesis. Some delightful acerbic comments are directed at the wastefulness of America in "Eat Some More" and draws attention to "60 million tons of meat spoiling in the heat while the poor are begging for a single bite, our garbage dumps are mountains high". In a disgusting picture of an overfed, over indulged culture, Cooper reviles those who "stuff it in your face, it's not nice to waste, we're not happy 'til we're choking, so we eat some more, throw up on the floor". Other songs verge on the macabre: the dark "Pick Up The Bones" talks of links with the past; "Pessi-mystic" describes the hopelessness he feels about every day events, uttering the haunting words "I'm pessimistic, I'm so fatalistic. I like being sick this way so shut up". Musically, this is outstanding. Cooper has lost none of his trademark anger and passion and the crushing rock beat carries the whole thing along at an ear-shattering pace. But the disappointing thing is that Cooper only presents us with half the picture and there is certainly no hope at the end of this dark musical tunnel. Maybe he was just in a bad mood when he wrote the songs. Maybe 21st century living has caught up with him. Or maybe this is simply a man trying to unravel the complexities of the darkness of the soul.