This 1994 effort from Cooper is an interesting album to look at for a number of different reasons. The first is that it is often linked to future releases 'Brutal Planet' and 'Dragontown'. The reason these albums are connected is actually somewhat confusing, and shows how little most people pay attention to the true metal genre these days. The concept behind 'The Last Temptation' is that a boy named Steven, bored with everyday life, finds himself joining a traveling show of sorts run by an evil showman. Steven eventually finds himself questioning the morality of the supernatural showman and the lessons that he tries to impart. Steven eventually breaks free of his show and banishes the evildoer back to hell. This reflects the "born-again" views that Alice had taken on in real life. 'Brutal Planet' and 'Dragontown' are supposed to reflect the blackness that Alice felt he saw in humanity. 'The Last Temptation' is more of a story of redemption, whereas in the two releases of the near future there is no redemption to be found; it's just some serious pissed off rock. However, most people in the mainstream media just linked the albums together (at the time) since they all stemmed from Cooper's Christian values in one way or another.
Musically the albums aren't much alike either. This offering has an updated and slightly heavier sound from Alice's 1980s material, but that's more of a natural progression of the material over time than anything else. The heaviest of the tracks here wouldn't even be considered a light song compared to the cuts on the other two albums, which utilize a more industrial feel than here. There is some minor distortion, but mostly just some slick guitar work. You could probably divide the songs on into two halves; the first half of the album is easily superior to the second, with "Bad Place Alone" and "You're My Temptation" being the standouts. "Bad Place Alone" is exceptionally good, and is in fact one of my favorite Alice songs. The second half of the album is pretty average overall with nothing really rising up as particularity great. The most well-known tracks to come off this album are "Lost in America" and "Stolen Prayer". The worst is probably "It's Me," which was released as a single. It just wasn't very good, although it's certainly a step up from the lighter songs on Alice's "Trash".
This is usually a pretty cheap buy now if you can find it, so I'd recommend it for old-school Alice fans, but there are plenty of better albums out there for anyone else who isn't a serious Alice fan.

TRACK LIST:
1. Sideshow
2. Nothing's Free
3. Lost in America
4. Bad Place Alone
5. Stolen Prayer
6. Unholy War
7. Lullaby
8. It's Me
9. Cleansed by Fire

Review by Larz Richards