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Columbus Dispatch
July 29, 2008

Author: Howard Cohen

Rock singer Cooper resuscitates his favorite psycho

'Along Came a Spider' Alice Cooper

Longtime Cooper fans will recognize "Steven," the psycho who had a thing for necrophilia, violence and spiders on Cooper's classic concept album Welcome to My Nightmare (1975).

Steven has popped up on subsequent albums and slithers back in a big way on Cooper's latest, Along Came a Spider.

Though lacking the musical sophistication of Welcome to My Nightmare or any song on a par with rock staples such as Schoo l 's Out or Poison, the more brutal hard rock of Along Came a Spider contains enough hooks to please the faithful.

At 60, Cooper still has a sneering delivery. Guest guitarist Slash enlivens the catchy Vengeance Is Mine to such a degree that the track sounds like an outtake from Guns N' Roses' Appetite for Destruction.