''Along Came a Spider'' is the eighteenth solo studio album by American rock musician

Alice Cooper Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...

, released in July 2008 by Steamhammer/SPV. A hard rock/heavy metal

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

, it chronicles the activities of a

psychopathic Psychopathy, sometimes considered synonymous with sociopathy, is characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and bold, disinhibited, and egotistical traits. Different conceptions of psychopathy have been ...

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

known as 'Spider' and the eventual undoing of his plans. A commercial success, it ended up becoming Cooper's highest-charting studio effort in the United States since ''

Hey Stoopid ''Hey Stoopid'' is the twelfth solo studio album by American rock singer Alice Cooper, released on July 2, 1991, by Epic Records. After his smash 1989 hit album ''Trash'', Cooper attempted to continue his success with his follow-up album, which ...

'' (1991).

Background and release

The story-line for the

was first revealed on Cooper's radio show ''

Nights with Alice Cooper ''Nights with Alice Cooper'' is a radio show hosted by Detroit born rock and roll artist and shock rock pioneer Alice Cooper. It is syndicated by United Stations Radio Networks and broadcast on a wide variety of affiliate radio stations in the ...

''. The theme of the album revolves around a "cool, calm and collected"

known as 'Spider'. The police are baffled by the bodies of Spider's victims, which are cocooned in a silk web, and are each missing a leg. Spider's task is to collect eight legs to complete the construction of his own spider. However, things get complicated when he falls in love with his eighth victim. At the end of the album an internal voice is heard telling 'Spider' that 'We've been locked away here for twenty eight years Steven, we couldn't have done all those horrible things' thus revealing Spider as the character Steven from '' Welcome to My Nightmare''. ''Along Came a Spider'' was due for a 2007 release but problems with producer scheduling and tour commitments caused it to be pushed to mid-2008. Several demos and songs were prepared and short-listed during 2007 with further sessions for recording and writing taking place in February 2008. 75% of the album had been completed as of April 18, 2008. Cooper also planned to create a second part to the album, entitled 'The Night Shift,' but decided to make ''

Welcome 2 My Nightmare ''Welcome 2 My Nightmare'' (also known as ''Welcome to My Nightmare 2'') is the nineteenth solo album by American rock musician Alice Cooper, released in September 2011. Peaking at No. 22 in the ''Billboard'' 200 it is Cooper's highest-charting al ...

'' instead.

Reception

The release has earned mixed to positive reviews from various publications. For example, music critic David Jeffries of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

stated that, even though Cooper had produced better concept albums before, in ''Along Came a Spider'' the artist "fills his lyrics with clever and gruesome wordplay". A review from

Blabbermouth.net Blabbermouth.net is a website dedicated to heavy metal and hard rock news, as well as album and music DVD reviews. Blabbermouth.net was founded and is run by Borivoj Krgin. The first version of the website was launched in March 2001; in October ...

praised the release as "yet another example of an album made by an elder rock icon that manages to sound fresh and relevant".

Track listing

*As with a large portion of Cooper's back-catalogue being remastered and re-released through various distribution channels, ''Along Came A Spider'' has also received the same treatment. Re-released on CD in 2010, and distributed by

Bigger Picture Bigger Picture (foaled February 8, 2011, in Kentucky) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse whose wins included the Grade 1 United Nations Handicap plus three consecutive editions of the John B. Connally Turf Cup. Career Bigger Picture's fir ...

, it includes the three iTunes-only bonus tracks originally released alongside the album in 2008:

Music video

Unlike ''

Dragontown ''Dragontown'' is the fifteenth solo album by American rock musician Alice Cooper. It was released in 2001 on Spitfire Records. Like ''Brutal Planet'', the album displays a heavier metal style than many of his previous releases. It peaked on Billb ...

'', ''

The Eyes of Alice Cooper ''The Eyes of Alice Cooper'', released in 2003, is the sixteenth solo album by American rock musician Alice Cooper. With this album, Cooper returned to his earlier hard rock sound, in the vein of '' The Last Temptation'', and left the heavy indus ...

'', and ''

Dirty Diamonds ''Dirty Diamonds'' is the seventeenth solo studio album by American rock musician Alice Cooper, released on July 4, 2005 internationally, and August 2 in the US. The album peaked on Billboard's "Top Independent Albums" chart at #17, and the ''Bi ...

'', a music video was created to promote ''Along Came a Spider''. Released on October 2, 2008, and directed by

Rob Zombie Rob Zombie (born Robert Bartleh Cummings; January 12, 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, filmmaker, and voice actor. His music and lyrics are notable for their horror and sci-fi themes, and his live shows have be ...

bassist,

Piggy D Matthew Montgomery (born November 16, 1975), also known as Piggy D., is an American musician most famous as a guitarist in horror punk band Wednesday 13 and bassist for Rob Zombie. Career history He first took over bass duties with Rob Zombie f ...

and Gabrielle Geiselman, the 10-minute-long music video stars

Slash Slash may refer to: * Slash (punctuation), the "/" character Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Slash (Marvel Comics) * Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'') Music * Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band * Nash ...

, Hazmat, Roxxi Dott,

Howie Pyro Howie Pyro (born Howard Kusten, June 28, 1960 – May 4, 2022) was an American bass player. He was a founding member of The Blessed, Freaks, D Generation, and PCP Highway. Pyro was also the bass player in Danzig from 2000–2003. Biography P ...

Dave Pino Dave Pino is an American guitarist, songwriter and producer, best known as the songwriter/guitarist and co-founder of the bands Damone and Waltham. Life and career Pino was born in 1977 to immigrant parents in Massachusetts. In 1999, his band ...

Eric Singer Eric Singer (born Eric Doyle Mensinger; May 12, 1958) is an American drummer. Associated with the hard rock band Kiss since 1991, he has also performed with artists such as Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, Lita Ford, Badlands, Brian May and Gary M ...

and Peter Derek. It features a medley of three songs from the album: "Vengeance Is Mine", "(In Touch With Your) Feminine Side", and "Killed By Love".

Personnel

– lead and backing vocals *

Danny Saber Danny Saber (born 1966) is a musician in Los Angeles. He is an audio engineer, record producer, and remixer as well. He is a former member of Black Grape and Agent Provocateur. He plays organ, and keyboards, and is a prominent Los Angeles DJ. Sa ...

– lead guitar, bass, keyboards, backing vocals *

Greg Hampton Greg Hampton is an American record producer, guitarist, singer, and songwriter, who has worked on such albums as Alice Cooper's '' Along Came a Spider,'' Tommy Bolin's '' Whips and Roses,'' Lita Ford's '' Wicked Wonderland'', and Eli Cook‘s ''Pr ...

– lead guitars, keyboards, backing vocals *

Chuck Garric Chuck Garric is an American rock bassist who has played with Turd, The Druts, L.A. Guns, Dio, and Eric Singer Project (ESP). The current bassist for Alice Cooper, Garric has played bass for Billy Bob Thornton, Ted Nugent, Don Felder, and Jour ...

– bass, backing vocals *

– drums

Guest musicians

Keri Kelli Keri Kelli (born Kenneth Fear Jr.) is an American hard rock guitarist who has played with artists and groups including Alice Cooper, Slash, Jani Lane, Vince Neil and John Waite. In March 2013 he formed Project Rock together with James Kottak ...

– guitars (5, 7 and 9) *

Jason Hook Jason Hook (born Thomas Jason Grinstead) is a Canadian guitarist, best known as the former lead guitarist of the Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Five Finger Death Punch. Early life Born in Toronto, Ontario, Hook started his music career ...

– guitars (5) *

– lead guitar (2) * David Piribauer – drums (8 and 10)

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Along Came A Spider (Album) Alice Cooper albums Concept albums SPV/Steamhammer albums 2008 albums