Artist: Slash feat. Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators
Title: 4
Genre: Rock
Release Date: 11th February 2022
Label: BMG
Album Review
10 years after their debut album ‘Apocalyptic Love’, Slash feat. Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators (SMKC) released their fourth album called ‘4’ on February 11th 2022. The album starts with a song the band recorded live in the studio, ‘The River is Rising’ is a wonderful energetic song that starts with excellent guitarwork by SLASH that is joined by the remaining band members, until MYLES KENNEDY kicks in with his unique voice to deliver the vocals to this song that will be loved by those who loved the 90s Grunge era and those who just came to love Grunge probe songs as the fashion industry currently used this era as an inspiration. The song comes with several twists and turns both in melody and rhythm and this makes it a very interesting one that catches the listeners attention.
A drum intro introduces ‘Whatever Gets You By’ that comes with loud guitar hooks that sometimes over drone the vocals a bit and reminding me of a demo, if there had not been the excellent solo parts by SLASH. ‘C'est La Vie’ is less intense than its predecessors that comes with a Rock probe guitar intro to change into a song that is more balanced and partly comes with a really cool groove and invites live audiences to sing along during the chorus part. The partly significant changes in rhythm and instrumentation makes it a challenging one for those who listen to it for the first time and somehow reminds me of the result of a band jamming live on stage.
The drummer counting in the song with the drumsticks promises an interesting and powerful song and ‘The Path Less Followed’ is keeps this promise. A highly melodic Rock song with touches of Blues and of course with a great solo part for those who love to shred their air guitars. Those who love the melodic aspects of SMKC will fall for ‘Actions Speak Louder Than Words’, a classic song breathing the spirit of real Rock’n’Roll with simple but intense riffing and sing along vocals.
The next song called ‘Spirit Love’ is a really sharp contrast, coming with almost oriental sounding instrumentation like an electric Sitar. But no worries no high pitched flutes or tambourines will torment your ears. The contrary is gonna happen, dark almost apocalyptic sounding guitar riffing creates a dark and dangerous mood, while MYLES KENNEDY performs the almost psychedelic sounding vocals. The guitar solo reminds you of a serpent charmer working his flute to charm the cobra, a masterpiece of guitarwork, only few artists are capable of writing and performing.
‘Fill My World’ takes you away from dangerous and exotic sounds into the world of love and harmony. A wonderful and harmonic 80s Rock love song that also carries a wonderful, longing guitar solo. A more energetic song is ‘April Fool’, that comes with a great guitar intro and will be the perfect opener for a live show. Interesting changes in beat and melody makes, shows how capable SKMC are, if they write a song that carries the spirit of Feelgood Rock aiming at crowds dancing in the pit during their festival and stadium shows. The second to last song on this album was the most surprising one for me, as the bass gets an extremely prominent line in ‘Call Off The Dogs’, if there wouldn’t be the high pitched vocals, you might have taken it for an old MOTÖRHEAD demo.
The last song is the longest on ‘4’ with over six minutes playtime might make you hope for a cool Rock song with plenty of solos and interesting drum parts and sing along vocals. But, SMKC decided to see you off with a lengthy balladesque song. Of course, it offers plenty of space for various solo parts and wonderful longing vocals, but half the length would have been sufficient, plus it’s galaxies away from the iconic ‘Anastacia’. If this is due to the fact that the band members caught Covid, when 90% of the album were finished or simply liked it the way they wrote it, will remain a secret, but there would have been better songs for closing this album.
No doubts, SLASH is one of the spearheads of the top guitar players guilt and MYLES KENNEDY has a unique voice that can’t compared to anybody else’s. Together with THE CONSPIRATORS these two created a very versatile album. ‘4’ carries the power and spirit of the big music events and festivals; people are missing so badly at the moment and promises better times. Compared to the band’s debut album and its predecessors ‘4’ has more live spirit but lacks signature songs and real surprises, all in all a solid release with high standards, but nothing special.
Tracklist
01. The River Is Rising
02. Whatever Gets You By
03. C’'est La Vie
04. The Path Less Followed
05. Actions Speak Louder Than Words
06. Spirit Love
07. Fill My World
08. April Fool
09. Call Off The Dogs
10. Fall Back To Earth
Line-up
Slash – Lead Guitar
Myles Kennedy – Vocals
Frank - Rhythm Guitar
Todd Kerns – Bass
Brent Fitz – Drums
Website
https://www.slashonline.com / https://myleskennedy.com
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 8
Sound: 8
Total: 8 / 10
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