Deko Entertainment [Release date 30.10.26]

Oh my lordy, a rock opera concept album! By Alice Cooper! Are we back to the ’70′s?! Listening to this ! feel like I should eating fondue while wearing a tank top.

So, some background before we get into the music. If I must.

Years ago, Alice Cooper and his longtime collaborator Dick Wagner conceived and wrote a new concept in the spirit of Welcome to My Nightmare From the beginning, Alice and Dick envisioned the project being performed and carried forward by a younger artist with the right voice and image. So, Maryann Cotton was discovered through Dick Wagner, who introduced him to Alice. Cotton later relocated from Copenhagen, Denmark, to Los Angeles to contribute to and complete the album and concept. They recorded extensive pre-production in multiple versions, but the album was never fully recorded or released, as Dick Wagner passed away shortly before they entered the studio.

So apparently Two years ago, Maryann decided to pick up the project and bring it to completion. He reopened all Pro Tools sessions and restored Dick Wagner’s original guitar riffs and solos, with careful clean-up and mixing work. Additionally, Tommy Henriksen from the Hollywood Vampires contributed both rhythm and lead guitar parts.

Right, suppose we should get on with it. Chester Rose is a concept album about a rock star who is also a serial killer. And listening to this album, he also writes the lamest, most cliched songs ever. Imagine the worst excesses of The Rocky Horror Show, or WASP’s ‘The Crimson Idol,’ or even more accurately, a school production written by fourteen year olds who have never heard the cliches of every single rock song from the ’70′s, but their mum things they’ve done a really lovely job so they’re going to invite Auntie Pam along to the show too.

If Christopher Guest did this as a film, in the manner of A Mighty Wind or Spinal Tap, you’d feel this was genius, but just a bit too over the top as no one would ever do something as clichéd as this, the church organ, serious vocal, long look at the camera, ‘November Rain’ style nonsense.. “Blond hair Flowing free, ignites a fire in me” – I mean, come on!

I honestly believe Alice walked away from this as it is so poor, nothing to do with his Dick Wagner’s death. This is Alice, who did Billion Dollar Babies, Generation Landslide, some of the finest rock music ever committed to vinyl. This is just desperate, so bereft of any originality that there is nothing to recommend.

If you want a song about a serial killer from the ’70′s, listen to Starz ‘Night Crawler.’ If you want a concept album about a soul filled with angst, listen to The Who’s ‘Quadrophenia’. If you want a laugh and every rock cliché, every crap guitar solo, every tortured vocal, smashed into fifty minutes, then give this fella a listen.

It’s laughable. *

Review by Chris Collingwood (@collingwood2112)

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

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Power Plays w/c 12 October 2026

TAKIDA – Lion’s Den (Drongo Records)
SCARDUST – Symphony (Frontiers)
ANBERLIN – Gravity (Rude Records/Equal Vision Records)
MISSING TOYS – Lifeline (Pride & Joy Music)
SWEET GORILLA – It’s Your Life (5000 Records)
ROYAL BLOOD – Dead Company (Warner Records)

Featured Albums w/c 12 October 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)

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