Slash Solo Review

   You don't need him to be featured on the cover of Guitar Hero for me to tell you Slash is an awesome guitarist. With Guns N Rose's "Appetite For Destruction" arguably being the pinnacle hard rock album and the epic follow up "Use Your Illusions" he and his former band have themselves great prestige in the history of rock. That just made it all the more unfortunate when the band was later dissected and distorted for an attempted (and long delayed) industrial direction, all while their most iconic figure went off to form Velvet Revolver. None of these projects have and will never come close to the late Guns N Roses, so with that in mind here is the review for Slash's solo album.

   This is an hours worth of a handful of guest acts, Slash only plays guitar and leaves the singing to his friends, as such its a hit or miss affair. It all works, and the tracks with artists I am familiar with, for the most part aren't just his or her vocals with Slash just sprinkled on top. You can definitely tell that there was work put in to get the feel of the guests' work and incorporate anything Slash can do to a reasonable effect. The problem with this is that since this is a Slash album, it's sad that his personal flair doesn't show quite as much as it does with the guests' styles. The closest to his sound is on the instrumental, Watch This with drummer Dave Grohl and bassist Duff Mckagan, which ends up closer to Velvet Revolver than Guns N Roses, and I enjoyed the overcharged Doctor Alibi with Lemmy Kilmeister as a Motorhead fan, but it doesn't nail Slash's raw take on classic rock. The singers that are there don't ruin the experience as individual songs, because a lot of them are good, but if this wasn't labeled as a Slash album, you probably wouldn't even recognize it's him.

   Essentially, fans of the individual guests would get more out of buying the songs featuring those guests they like more so than a Slash fan that would buy the full album. However when there are highlights, they are good in their own right. Crucify the Dead does feature Ozzy and turned out alright, I didn't think I would like the Beautiful Dangerous with Fergie, but it did rock out to an extent, and possibly the best is We're All Gonna Die with Iggy Pop, being one of the best guitar prominent songs. My other favorites featured Chris Cornell, formerly of Soundgarden and Audioslave, Andrew Stockdale from Wolfmother, and M Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold, but they also highlight how their own style took over Slash's, you'll have to decide for yourself if you accept Slash being more of a standard shredder on Nothing to Say, which in reality clones Avenged Sevenfold. As for the rest, the quality entirely rests on the guest, the Kid Rock song is as pathetic as I expected, and Gotten with Adam Levine was out of place.

   I enjoyed much of the album, it's fun, even if it doesn't make much sense and has zero entirely impressive writing and lyrics. Fans of Slash shouldn't hesitate to give at least some of the album a listen, especially if you love rockers like Lemmy, and Chris Cornell, but go in taking it for what it is, a compilation of songs with Slash's name written all over it. Did I mention Slash and Ozzy Osborne is on the album?

2.75/5