ALICE COOPER's 'Paranormal' Album Gets Official Release Date

earMUSIC has set a July 28 release date for Alice Cooper's new album, titled "Paranormal". It will be made available on 2CD digipak, 2LP, limited-edition box set and on digital formats — and will come with a special mini-album.

A statement from earMUSIC reads: "The 12-track album has been recorded in Nashville with longtime collaborator Bob Ezrin and features a very special bonus CD — a mini-album consisting of three brand new songs written and recorded together with the original ALICE COOPER band members Dennis Dunaway, drummer Neal Smith and guitarist Michael Bruce, alongside carefully selected live recordings. 'Paranormal' also features special guest appearances by U2's Larry Mullen Jr., ZZ TOP's Billy Gibbons and DEEP PURPLE's Roger Glover."

During an appearance on last Friday's (May 5) episode of the SiriusXM radio show "Trunk Nation", Cooper said producer Bob Ezrin was responsible for getting Mullen Jr. involved in the sessions.

"Bob Ezrin and I sat there, and Bob says, 'What do you think about Larry Mullen on drums?' And I went, 'That's a great idea. It'll change things up so much on just the basic tracks.'"

Cooper also talked about the U2 drummer's somewhat unusual approach to recording. Alice recalled: "Larry [said], 'I wanna see the lyrics.' I said, 'Really?' He [said], 'Yeah, I play to the lyrics. I don't play to the bass.' And I said, 'That is so cool — just the idea that you're interpreting the lyrics on the drums.' So that totally makes the album another album."

Gibbons, meanwhile, plays guitar on a song called "I've Fallen In Love And I Can't Get Up". "After we cut the record, I went, 'If Billy Gibbons doesn't play on this, we shouldn't put this one out,' 'cause, I mean, it is so much him," Alice said. "And he got the record, and he said, 'I've got the flu, but, man, this song makes me feel better.' He just killed it."

In addition to performing on "Paranormal", original ALICE COOPER bandmembers Neal Smith (drums),Michael Bruce (guitar) and Dennis Dunaway (bass) were involved in the songwriting for the new record. "I wrote three songs [with them] for the new album. Dennis brought in two songs, Mike brought in a song. There's one song called 'I Wanna Be A Genuine American Girl'. It was gonna be 'I Want A Genuine American Girl', and I went, 'No, no, no. I Wanna Be A Genuine American Girl! It's really a tough song, so it's this guy going, 'I've gotta paint my nails, I've gotta do my hair.' [Laughs]"

With regards to the "Paranormal" album title, Cooper said: "I love that title, 'Paranormal', but it's not really a scary record. There's a couple of scary songs on it, but [it is] 'paranormal,' meaning 'other than normal.' This is not a normal Alice record. Bob and I decided, 'No theme this time. We're gonna make a record of things that just get us off, songs that we like. And it might go in a lot of different directions, but these are just songs that get us off."