Slash Album Review - pretty positive

[mooney]

Bought it. Better than most other music out there.

8/10

by that yard stick i guess i can agree with you're rating sunnyp, but in all honesty i'm pretty bored of this music aside from the M. Shadows track.

People might say, "what were you expecting.... experimental stuff??" but for me, Slash has done grade A hard rock in AFD, UYI and VR stuff, and the simple fact of the matter is nothing he has done since UYI has been "great". To much averge, uninspired stuff on this record.

[Beautiful Disease]

Great to hear Steven popcorn adler on 'Baby can't drive' with Alice Cooper, on the limited edition.
When I heard the typical AFD cowbell right at the start of the song, it sent a shiver down my spine. The song is very good, and Alice is great as always. Could easily be on AFD.

All in all I think it's a solid album with loads of guitars, nice riffs and licks everywhere. I also like the use of some unusual instruments for a Slash album, like the rhodes organ on the Kid Rock song.

I'd kill for the instrumental versions of all songs though, there are nice guitar parts to hear, especially with good headphones.


Whoever mixed this album did a great job aswell. The sound is excellent, the record sounds just great on hifi and the overall mix is much better than on ChiDem, IMHO.

I'm glad Slash is still around here to do what he does best.


A song with Slash, Steven, Izzy and Duff together would have been great though. Strange that they all play on different songs.

[Iconic Shawn]

Ah.. I wish there was an instrumental version too. I'm wondering if enough fans request would the dude have a problem sharing them. It might actually work with a cool dude like Slash.

~S~

[LostInTheGarden]

I can't imagine listening to this album straight through again and not getting bored, but it does sound pretty good. Nothing to Say is badass, shadows sounds like a fucking beast as always, though a few screams would have made it perfect (wishful thinking i know). and I love the guitar playing on this one. chris cornell's song is sweet as hell too, it's definitely gonna be stuck in my head for a while. ozzy sounds pretty good, not a bad song there either, with a nice chorus from slash. Nevr got into altar bridge much, but myles kennedy has a very nice voice and it really shines through on starlight, which is another catchy song. the maroon 5 guy's song is pretty good too. aside from that mostly filler imo. kid rock is a douche, and lemmy.... enough already dude.

ps. nice intro anf riffing on ghost, but ian astbury's voice bothers me 

[Chase the Ace]

LOL people shitting on the album. This is fucking Rock at it's best no pussy CD shit.

[UcudBmine]

it's a great album for sure, i wouldn't pick it over chinese democracy (personal opinion) but i can't say i dislike any of the songs.
i'll put them in order of liking them:

1. Starlight
2. Gotten
3. Crucify The Dead
4. I Hold On
5. Back From Cali
6. Beautiful Dangerous
7. By The Sword
8. Ghost
9. Nothing To Say
10. Watch This
11. Saint Is A Sinner Too
12. We're All Gonna Die
13. Doctor Alibi
14. Promise

[Chase the Ace]

I admit I worded that really bad. My point is that while CD is good it's also depressing. This one is rock n roll.

[Lies They Tell]

Here's my review. Dunno if this is the right place to post it?

1. Ghost
My first reaction was: "Damn I've missed Slash's guitaring. This is pure rock n' roll!" Especially the first half of the song is awesome. The second half doesn't really offer anything special. Anyway it's a great opening song. 7/10

2. Crucify The Dead
I had big expectations for this song! Not sure why...I don't even like Ozzys solo stuff. I liked Ozzys voice in Black Sabbath, mostly in the first couple of albums. These days his voice is a little annoying and that applies here too. Well I was curious to see what happens when Ozzy and Slash join forces. The result is a basic semi-good rock song. 5/10

3. Beautiful Dangerous
I just love the start of this song. It's sexy and it's dangerous. One of the best parts of the entire album. Could this actually be a Fergie song that I like? Nope! It's the chorus that ruins it for me. It's too poppy in a bad way. The rest of the song is like Avril Lavigne on steroids or something. I don't like it.! 3/10

4. Back From Cali
This is a raw and cool track from start to finish. With just a little extra twist this could have been a GNR caliber song. I really like the chorus on this one! 7/10

5. Promise
I had expectations for this song too. Chris Cornell sounds great as always. Slash does a good job too, but in the end it's a very generic song. The chorus (although it's good) is just played over and over again. I'm getting a little tired of these kind of songs. Nevertheless it's better than most shit out there. 6/10

6. By The Sword
For me this is the highlight of the album. Very Led Zeppelinish! I love the main riff and the guitar solo too is one of the best on the album. And Andrew Stockdale is absolutely brilliant on this track. He manages to keep the song interesting till the end. 8/10

7. Gotten
I'd say songwriting-wise this is one of the better tracks on the album. It's not really my type of music though. Adam Levine's voice is just too...I don't know...soft. 5/10

8. Doctor Alibi
Lemmy's voice is like the opposite extremity of Adam's. It's even worse! This is humor music, that's what it is! Only it's not very funny. 2/10

9. Watch This
I think many of the songs on this album would be better without vocals. This instrumental piece is outstanding! 6/10

10.  I Hold On
A boring chorus. Nothing special Slash-wise either. A very generic song. 2/10

11. Nothing To Say
At least this song has energy! It's very different from what Slash has done ever before, as far as I know. And that's a good thing! But just cause Slash hasn't done this before doesn't mean that there isn't already hundreds of songs that sound exactly like this one. 4/10

12. Starlight
Another highlight of the album! I'm very impressed by Myles Kennedy's passionate vocals on this album. He would be a good choice as the VR frontman. Good job by Slash too. 8/10

13. Saint Is A Sinner Too
Cool track! This is one of the only songs on this album that you just can't call generic. I kinda hoped that the song would have grown and reached massive epic heights in the end. It had so much potential. Oh well! It's a good song this way too. 6/10

14. We're all gonna die
Ok song. The lyrics are a kinda cheesy. Well it didn't leave a bad taste in the mouth. That's the most important thing! 5/10

I understand the whole thing that Chinese Democracy is too ballady and depressing and this is pure rock n' roll and so on. But there's no way in hell this album is even remotely as good as CD is in my opinion.
This album has some good songs, but nothing REALLY amazing. I'd say that the best songs on this album are better than If The World, which is the worst song on CD. That's actually a pretty good achievement!
So what's wrong with this album? Many people have already said it before me. It's too generic and boring! Yes, I don't like music that doesn't offer anything new, that's why I don't like AC/DC much either. The main reason why I loved old Guns N' Roses and why I still love GNR is cause they don't do generic rock.
In my opinion this album proves that Slash is still a great guitarist. But he needs someone like Axl to get the full potential out of him.