Alice Cooper
Raise Your Fist and Yell
MCA
Released on September 28 1987
In the 80’s, Alice Cooper became synonymous with horror films and saw a huge resurgence in his musical career. He starred in Monster Dog, produced a song He’s Back (The Man Behind the Man) for Friday the 13th Part VI and even had a bit part in John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness. Cooper was catching on with a different generation of fans into gory cinema and fist pumping heavy metal, so it was inevitable he would produce an album to reflect those tastes. His song writing turned towards violent actions, evolved into defiant feelings and ultimately became darker than any other album previously produced. In short, he delivered Raise Your Fist and Yell in 1987 and embarked on a tour (Live In The Flesh) to prove his new predatory ways.
The tour became infamous for its graphic violence and theatricality, but still included some of Cooper’s staple moments from past live shows. The difference here was how it was presented in such grand guignol fashion; including impaling a person with a bike, a multitude of onstage deaths and heaping amounts of stage blood! Cooper was truly a madman during this phase of his musical career and the fans ate it up like candy. The new songs detailed a penchant for murderous deeds and defiant actions in numbers like “Time To Kill”, “Chop, Chop, Chop” and “Step On You”. Alice became meaner and nastier; proving songs like “Freedom” and “Lock Me Up” could sway the metal loving kids of the 80’s. It also helped to have the meaty riffs of guitarist Kane Roberts and Kip Winger to back up this new and improved sound, allowing Alice’s newfound image to gestate fully into the 80s metal period.
My favorite tracks on this release are: “Freedom”, “Lock Me Up”, “Prince of Darkness”, “Time to Kill” and “Gail”. I am giving this album a solid 9 out of 10 and will go on to say this is my favorite Alice Cooper release of all time.
Horror Metal Sounds 