Album Review: Slash ‘Apocalyptic Love’

With his first solo record, 2010’s Slash, Saul Hudson went for the Carlos Santana approach with a diverse set of songs and a host of featured singers. It was a good enough record, but for the followup Slash has opted instead to work with a set band featuring vocalist Myles Kennedy, drummer Brent Fitz, and bassist Todd Kerns. On the album cover the full credit reads: Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators.

It’s sort of interesting that this was even released under the name Slash. It makes sense from a branding perspective, but this really seems to be a true band and not a solo project at all. It would be easy to argue here that Myles Kennedy was as much a part of the creative process as Slash, and he may be even more at the forefront of the music at times.

Which may be a problem for the album, because for a record to be released under the name of a guitarist you should naturally expect a greater focus on that instrument. This isn’t to say that Slash’s mastery of the guitar is uncompelling, but it is not often grabbing the attention of the listener, and these songs probably wouldn’t work very well without Myles’ singing. Slash spends much of the album grinding along with the music rather than carrying it squarely on his shoulders, but his solos–of which there are of course plenty–are almost always the highlights.

Myles Kennedy is unavoidably, and probably correctly, going to be seen as a poor man’s Axl Rose. They have exceedingly similar styles, and Myles has in the past served as a direct stand-in for Axl. There can be very little doubt that Kennedy lacks quite the energy and spirit of Slash’s former frontman. He is in no way a bad singer, but one should be able to say objectively that he is simply not as good. This album would probably come across better if Slash had not opted for a sound so easily taken for a Guns N’ Roses tribute band.

One song on which the guitar takes center stage from start to finish is ‘Anastasia’, with several pleasurable licks which keep his guitar in control of the music. The song also showcases the talent of Slash to a greater degree than the rest, with classical picked guitar and mexican influences early on, later building into its full, anthemic rock glory. It’s an obvious standout on an album with a lot of simply passable songs.

‘Hard & Fast’ is the most satisfyingly simple screecher. A lot of this record has a bit of a throwback style, but this song is unabashedly dated, and it works for that very reason. Many of the other songs here fall victim to an almost inevitable syndrome of too-many-power-ballads.

By and large the songs on Apocalyptic Love are just not as powerful as those of GnR, and there is no escaping that kind of comparison. You are getting a watered-down version of an old product here, but if it’s something you love you should be pretty happy with the package. It’s nothing groundbreaking, but it is good, fun rock and roll, with a familiarity that may be comfortable for some, though easily overlooked for many others.

Release Date: May 22, 2012
Image Courtesy of Dik Hayd Records