Apocalyptic Love – Slash feat. Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators

By Martin Durrant

Slash is a name that is synonymous with rock and roll. His very image provides the essence of the music we all love, his top hat bouncing maniacally on his lone curly hair as he dances across the stage, guitar slung low. His first album, released in 2010 was subject of rave reviews for his song writing and his subsequent tour was a great success, with audiences clamouring for more.

The result of this is Slash’s second full length solo release, but first with a settled backing band, ‘Apocalyptic Love’. This album features a man who featured on two tracks on Slash’s first album, Myles Kennedy of Alter Bridge. The band is completed by Todd ‘Dammit’ Kearns on bass guitar and Brent Fitz on drums, known as ‘The Conspirators’.

The album offers 13 track (not including the bonus tracks), all of which sound completely different. It really is testament to Slash as a musician that he has created such a diverse rock and roll album.
Early highlights included the attitude-filled ‘One Last Thrill’ and the political ‘No More Heroes’. However, the album really picks up as it goes on and hits it’s highlight at track 8, the exceptional ‘Anastasia’. This track is everything that Slash stands for as a musician, with a ripping lead guitar melody, a crunching riff and a classic Slash guitar solo, all the while having a slick vocal melody which is handled majestically by Kennedy, showing his full vocal range across the song. Later highlights are Slash’s Snake pit influenced ‘Hard and Fast’ followed by the stomping album closer ‘Shots Fired’ which features the best riff on the album.

To sum it all up, ‘Apocalyptic Love’ is an album which is very easy to listen to. It has a few tracks which stand out from the crowd, but all in all it is a solid album. This is almost like a first album from a brand new band, rather than a second album from one of the most iconic guitarists of all time. I, for one, cannot wait for album number three.

8/10

Check Out the below video that features a track off the album called ‘you’re a lie’ in between Slash telling you about his top 10 you tube videos. He seems to be going for a bit of an Ozzy look, where’s the top hat?