Band : Slash
Album title : Slash
Label : Roadrunner Records
Distribution : CNR
Release date : 05/04/2010
Review : CD

Who doesn’t know Slash? The guitar player with the curly black hair, sunglasses and a top hat is best known for his contribution to Guns n’ Roses, but also made two albums with Slash’s Snakepit and two more albums with Velvet Revolver. Not to forget his numerous guest appearances on albums of fellow musicians. Since singer Scott Weiland was thrown out of the band in 2008, Velvet Revolver has been looking for a new singer, but without any success yet.

Meanwhile, Slash considered it to be the right moment to release a solo album, because in all his productivity he had some songs left on the shelf. Songs for which he chose a different singer for each song, just like Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters) did with his project Probot (2004).
And even with some singers coming from other genres than hard Rock and Metal, this rock album works out just fine, because each song is specifically destined for the particular singer. Apart from the recognizable sound of each voice, there is also the typical guitar sound of riff-Meister Slash and his inseparable Gibson guitar.
The album “Slash” contains 14 songs and has a playing time of 60 minutes. Highlights of the album are the opening track “Ghost” (featuring Ian Astbury of The Cult), “Crucify The Dead” (with Ozzy Osbourne), “Beautiful Dangerous” (with Fergie of Black Eyed Peas in the same style as Pink), “By The Sword” (featuring Andrew Stockdale of Wolfmother), “Gotten” (featuring Adam Levine of Maroon 5), “Doctor Alibi” (with Lemmy of Motörhead), the instrumental “Watch This” (where Dave Grohl plays drums and Duff McKagan plays bass), “Nothing To Say” (featuring M. Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold), “Back From Cali” and “Starlight” (with Myles Kennedy of Alter Bridge), and “We’re All Gonna Die” (where Iggy Pop sings along). The weak songs of this album are the collaborations with Chris Cornell, Kid Rock and Rocco Deluca.

Look out for the different editions of this album, which contain bonus tracks featuring for instance Alice Cooper, Nicole Scherzinger (Pussycat Dolls), Cypress Hill (together with Fergie performing “Paradise City” of Guns n’ Roses in an almost unrecognizable version!). Slash is undertaking a European tour from the end of May until the beginning of July 2010, with an appearance in Belgium on June 26th at the Graspop festival. Vocalist of this live band will be Myles Kennedy (Alter Bridge) and Slash has announced in interviews that he will also perform songs of Guns n’ Roses, Velvet Revolver, Slash’s Snakepit and Alter Bridge.

85/100

Erik.