Artist: Slash
Label: Dik Hayd International
Release: 2012
Runtime: 61:36
Rating: 4.5/5
Saul Hudson, known to the public as Slash, is a man of many faces and talents. Some see him as a mysterious guy with a black top hat on his head and a cigarette in his mouth, others as a mischievous rock n` roll troublemaker loaded up on all kinds of substances, and Axl Rose sees him as half man, half beast, but that’s all in the past now. When it comes to his second solo studio project “Apocalyptic Love”, the most fitting way to look at him is as a virtuoso guitarist and artist. With his creativity and sense for melody, he remains a driving force of today’s rock music. Slash is one of the few guitarists who, along with a handful of the last samurai, make sure “real rock” isn’t history yet. The album “Apocalyptic Love” is a major turning point in his career, since it’s different from his commercially minded debut “Slash” (2010). The new record is even more personal and confessional than its predecessor.
Since 2011, Slash has been working successfully with Alter Bridge singer Myles Kennedy. Alongside Kennedy, Slash’s backing band also includes bassist Todd Kerens, drummer Brent Fitz and guitarist Frank Sidoris, and the full billing reads “Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators”. Kennedy is also the main lyricist, which was never Slash’s strong suit.
The album opens with the title track “Apocalyptic Love”, which draws its inspiration from the year 2012 and the end-of-the-world predictions that were being roasted on the global spit of sensationalism all year long. The opener quickly sets out the musical premise of the whole album, which deals effectively in strings of pre- and post-apocalyptic moods. The action on the record builds up to a big storm (the climax), then slowly calms down again toward the closing stretch. To really get that feeling, it’s worth listening to the album in full. From start to finish. The ending itself is left open to interpretation, so everyone can read it in their own way. The rest of the songs also tie poetically into the themes of apocalypse and love. “You`re A Lie” (the first single, released on February 27, 2012) is dedicated to a failed love, and Slash reminds us with an excellent solo why he remains one of the most respected and talented guitarists on the rock ‘n’ roll map! The wild years, which Slash has luckily left behind, haven’t damaged his playing. Instead, Slash, armed with a wealth of experience, uses them in his mature years as a source of inspiration!
After the less striking “No More Heroes”, “Halo” and “We will roam”, “Anastasia” hits right at the halfway point of the album with a proper guitar tornado and delivers one of the album’s highlights. A calm intro played on acoustic guitar quickly spills over into an excess of raging electric guitars, where Slash steps into the foreground again with his soloing sorcery and pulls off one of the best solo moments on the album. “Anastasia” is a modern-day “Sweet Child O` Mine”, or even its sequel. Both in the message of the lyrics and in the songwriting. The melody of the opening solo gets under your skin fast, because it sounds homey, or rather familiar. That feeling doesn’t lie, since the solo was inspired by Bach’s Baroque Toccata in D minor. “Not for Me” and “Hard and Fast”, both deeply personal, also stand out in terms of content. The lyrics deal with Myles’s struggles with drugs and alcohol in the past.
Compared with the previous album, the new one shows a noticeable step forward in Slash’s work! The first album laid bare the need for commercial accessibility. That’s why he carefully and deliberately juggled ideas aimed at winning over a broader base of listeners. Despite the “fame” of the name Slash, he clearly didn’t feel relaxed enough, so on the earlier album he prioritized hunting for the kind of musical substance that would land closest to his target audience. Encouraged by the positive reaction from the crowds, Slash allowed himself more experimental daring on the new album, while still keeping his classic rock framework stylistically. Production-wise, the album sounds lively and dynamic. It was recorded exclusively using analog technology!
With “Apocalyptic Love”, Slash secures his stability on the music market and further strengthens his base of loyal fans. A consequence of the record’s success is also the already announced continuation of the apocalypse (at least judging by what the new, already-heard material offers), titled “World On Fire”! That also answers the question of whether Slash’s collaboration with his current band of musicians will end anytime soon. It won’t, so we can look forward to another musical masterpiece in the future. The “hibernation” of Guns N’ Roses only helps him in this regard, since, while the giants of rock are on ice, Slash keeps effectively cementing his solo musical status on the rock scene and effectively maintaining his status as a “guitar rock icon”.
edited by: Aleš Podbrežnik
Lineup
Slash – lead guitar, acoustic guitar on “Anastasia”, “talkbox” on “Carolina
Myles Kennedy – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, guest lead guitar on “Far Away”
Todd Kerns – bass guitar, backing vocals, screams on “One Last Thrill” and “You`re A Lie”
Brent Fitz – drums, percussion, piano on “Far Away”
Production
Eric Valentine
Tracklist
1. Apocalyptic Love
2. One Last Thrill
3. Standing in the Sun
4. You’re a Lie
5. No More Heroes
6. Halo
7. We Will Roam
8. Anastasia
9. Not for Me
10. Bad Rain
11. Hard & Fast
12. Far and Away
13. Shots Fired
14. Carolina
15. Crazy Life
