Like
Jeff Beck before him,
Slash is a superstar guitarist who can’t sing a lick -- a situation that poses a considerable problem when it comes time to record a solo album, which apparently is whenever his band collapses under the preening ego of a lead singer. When combing through the wreckage of
GNR he decided to form a band whose singer almost seemed like an afterthought, but he took a different route after the meltdown of
Velvet Revolver, choosing to follow
Santana’s Supernatural blueprint, hauling in a different singer for each track. Of course, Supernatural was designed with the intention of having
Santana cross over to a new audience, but
Slash, with the exception of
Fergie howling “Beautiful Dangerous,” was made with his old fans in mind, bringing in gnarled old rockers like
Ozzy,
Lemmy, and
Iggy to carry the brunt of the work, slipping in a few new faces -- like
Andrew Stockdale of
Wolfmother,
Rocco DeLuca (the first signing to Kiefer Sutherland’s label), and
Myles Kennedy, chosen to front
Slash’s supporting tour for the record -- along the way. It’s a comfortable and familiar fit, with the exceptions to the rule being
Fergie, who winds up pushing
Slash in an interesting hooky direction, and the instrumental jam between the guitarist, his
GNR/
Velvet bandmate
Duff McKagan, and
Dave Grohl. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine