The opening comes with "Ghost," featuring the voice of Ian Astbury, frontman of The Cult, and with the special participation of Izzy Stradlin, former Guns N 'Roses guitarist.
The atmosphere reminds us a bit the 80´s FM rock radios and both guitarists know exactly what to do playing wild bases and licks. The base of the songs is really versatile in most of the songs by Chris Chaney (bass) and Josh Freese (drums) and I can say it is a highlight. And yet it is worth highlighting the host Slash, who at 2 and a half minutes, gives a present to the listener with a solo that leads to his signature with honour: those bends and genuine phrases touch the spine of all rockers.
"Crucify The Dead" lands like a bomb for fans of the heavier Rock n 'Roll wing, and from the beginning we have the voice of Ozzy Osbourne in nearly a duet with Slash’s inspired guitar - that occasionally reminds Zakk Wylde - the former faithful Madman’s squire. The punch comes softly to the chorus, but just for a fast moment, coming back again when the chorus repeats. And one more amazing guitar solo. This song’s atmosphere is quite melancholy and the lyrics seem to be inspired in Axl Rose. Here you can read an intriguing part of this non confirmed inspiration:
A loaded gun jammed by a rose
The thorns are knot around your head
Your ego curse you 'till you bleed
You cannot crucify the dead
To me you're dead... yeah"
Next track may attract many listeners but scare others: "Beautiful Dangerous "featuring the vocals of the beautiful Black Eyed Peas singer, Fergie. The instrumental has a hint of modernity with keyboards, samplers and a less "raw" production, but nothing which undermines the Rock n 'Roll. The blonde kicks ass, especially in the chorus, where she "caresses" the dear listener's eardrums with high vocal ranges that put chill to us. Slash cannot be put aside here with good guitar phrases over the song and a solo that can easily be considered one of the most inspirational things here - and with the right of background moans! In all, a track that surprises letting everybody curious to check out more of Fergie singing rock in the future.
"Back From Cali" comes with a classic rhythm – in terms of rock, of course! The soft riff gives place to a simple rhythmic one. Myles Kennedy’s voice – he is also the vocalist who is on tour with Slash – is really great to hard rock. The instrumental, efficient, reminds us Velvet Revolver with some Led Zeppelin spices – especially in Myles’s voice. The only thing that disappoints a bit here is the solo that could be much more inspiring, but this song is far one of the best in the entire play. Curiously it was one of the last to be included in the album’s track list.
Following we have "Promise", sang by Chris Cornell (Audioslave,Soundgarden). The atmosphere here reminds us more the 90´s and we can say it represents some kind of merging between hard rock and Grunge/Alternative. The chorus is great as well as the guitar lick at the beginning and his respective and inspiring solo. Here we can even find an irreverent harpsichord insertion during the verses. In general it’s a great song with a very good rhythm.
One of the highest points is when an unpretentious acoustic guitar starts on hi hat counting. "By The Sword", a real Hard n' Blues, having singer Andrew Stockdale (Wolfmother) as special guest. This has been so far the biggest hit of the album. Stockdale´s high voice involves the listener, together with one more inspiring guitar with some Hendrix feeling and great bases by Chaney and Freese. I believe this track has the best guitar solo of the entire album.
The heavy atmosphere softens now with the ballad "Gotten". Adam Levine, Maroon 5 frontman really impresses us with an outstanding performance. His voice is calm and sweet and releases beautiful words in this melancholy, but also happy song, narrating the reunion of two past lovers. The beautiful melody can involve even the most revolted metalhead. We have to highlight Slash’s bluesy phrases along the song and instruments such as violin and viola in the background. This song is one of the biggest surprises here and maybe not even Slash himself knows why this song wasn’t chosen to be a single, it has great potential to become the listener’s favourite independent on which style they prefer.
Rock n' roll has loudspeakers again - and good ones! "Doctor Alibi" counts on the live legend Lemmy Kilmister on bass and vocals. Slash, deuced, outstands during the entire track – something I don’t consider very easy to do when we have Lemmy´s presence – and the solo here is great. The atmosphere goes down after the solo and the rough and low voice of Lemmy, and only Freese´s drumming stay with Kilmister´s voice, even the biggest bully would be scared, no doubts one of the best songs of this album.
"Watch This" keeps the rock veins but this time in instrumental shape. Duff McKagan takes the bass and Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters) gets the drumsticks. The heavy riff remains during the entire song and Slash takes the moment to show that he’s also good on the 6 string. His rock n´roll veins show up really well giving the listener amazing phrases. Atmosphere softens on half of the song, and it’s where Slash releases the devil inside with an outstanding wah wah. Good song.
The typical American "I Hold On" features the vocals of versatile rapper/country Kid Rock. It is a pop ballad with generous pinches of Aerosmith’s post-golden age and Nickelback, but with enough quality. Kid’s soft voice and Slash’s bases on this track are relaxing and perfect, especially to be listened after a hard working day. The solo is once more outstanding and the suitable melody shows us once more what this crush-hat guy is capable of.
"Nothing To Say" comes next and the song’s name reflects exactly what I have to say about this track. Its gender doesn’t please me at all (some kind of speed new metal) with the vocals of M. Shadows (Avenged Sevenfold) which I have “nothing to say” about. It may be a good track to those who like the style by the other hand…
However, right after one of the worst moments of the album we’ve got one of the best. The ballad Hard/Pop/Blues "Starlight" comes with the only guest who sings two songs in the album: Myles Kennedy, definitely a great choice to sing this song. The guy can easily fluctuate between calm verses and the "frenezzi" of the chorus with great feeling and skill, and the songs he sings are those that most resemble the golden days of Guns N 'Roses here. Again, Slash gives us a breathtaking solo. It is worth mentioning that the old-school Steve Ferrone (Eric Clapton, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Average White Band) took the drumsticks here. In all, an excellent track.
"Saint Is A Sinner Too", although it sounds as having female vocals it’s sung by Rocco DeLucca, leader of his own project called Rocco DeLucca & The Burden. This track shows an experimental and soft atmosphere with very well played acoustic guitars by DeLucca and Slash, besides some “weird” passages a little "flamenco", a little “alien”... perhaps I lost the correct term for a definition but what’s important to say is that in spite of being a good song it dust suit very well this album.
"We're All Gonna Die", featuring Iggy Pop, closes the CD with a golden key showing a track that brings us the atmosphere of a perfect song when the one with the microphone is the eternal Stooges singer. Classic rock n' roll spiced with punk, raw, and a rhythm basically inspired in the 70´s, besides one more great solo by Slash.
This is a record made to the fans and open minded listeners since, as mentioned, each song brings a different atmosphere and can take you to totally different places. Slash shows us here his particular and private view of Rock n' Roll, walking through several sub-genders but without losing the scent. After all, even if we spend our lives following a strand, we shouldn’t keep ourselves forever attached to it.
01. Ghost (feat. Ian Astbury & Izzy Stradlin)
02. Crucify The Dead (feat. Ozzy Osbourne)
03. Beautiful Dangerous (feat. Fergie)
04. Back From Cali (feat. Myles Kennedy)
05. Promise (feat. Chris Cornell)
06. By the Sword (feat. Andrew Stockdale)
07. Gotten (feat. Adam Levine)
08. Doctor Alibi (feat. Lemmy Kilmister)
09. Watch This (feat. Dave Grohl & Duff McKagan)
10. I Hold On (feat. Kid Rock)
11. Nothing To Say (feat. M. Shadows)
12. Starlight (feat. Myles Kennedy)
13. Saint Is A Sinner Too (feat. Rocco DeLuca)
14. We're All Gonna Die (feat. Iggy Pop)
Slash - guitar, acoustic guitar
Chris Caney - bass (except for tracks 8 and 9)
Josh Freese - drums (except for tracks 9 and 12)
Singers mentioned above in the tracks list.
Lenny Castro – percussion on tracks 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10 and 14
Taylor Hawkins - backing vocals in "Crucify The Dead"
Kevin Churko - backing vocals in "Crucify The Dead"
Chris Flores – keys and program "Beautiful Dangerous"
Joe Sandt – harpsichord in "Promise"
Deron Johnson – organ in "Gotten"
Anton Patzner – violin and viola in "Gotten"
Mark Robertson - violin in "Gotten"
Alyssa Park - violin in "Gotten"
Julie Rogers - violin in "Gotten"
Sam Fischer - violin in "Gotten"
Grace Oh - violin in "Gotten"
Songa Lee - violin in "Gotten"
Maia Jasper - violin in "Gotten"
Lisa Liu – violin in "Gotten"
Steve Ferrone – drums in "Starlight"
English Version: Maila-Kaarina |
