If their covers-heavy 2015 debut was Hollywood Vampires' opening act, Rise is the main event. Here the Sunset Strip supergroup (Johnny Depp, Aerosmith's Joe Perry, and Alice Cooper) flips the script, serving up 13 originals and a trio of well-chosen tributes. Tracks like “I Want My Now” and “New Threat” capture the debauched ambiance of the Viper Room long after last call, while Cooper’s yowl slithers over “Who’s Laughing Now.” But it’s not all straight-ahead rock: On “Mr. Spider,” the band dips a toe into Dark Side of the Moon-esque space rock, and guitar hero Jeff Beck lends a country-fried solo to the rollicking “Welcome to Bushwhackers” (which also features a John Waters cameo). Perry and Depp take turns at the mic too, delivering faithful takes on classics by Johnny Thunders (the tender “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory”), David Bowie (a stirring “Heroes”), and punk-poet Jim Carroll (“People Who Died”).
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