So let me start by saying that I’m new to this. Don’t get me wrong, I have heard some of Slash‘s best tracks and all. I mean, who hasn’t?? I just didn’t get the chance to listen to a full release of his, and now I did. I’d like to share some thoughts regarding this.
First, let’s review the line-up of musicians for this album. We have Todd Kernz on Bass guitar and backing vocals, Myles Kennedy on the lead vocals, Brent Fitz on the drums, percussion and electric piano. And of course the star name of the release: Slash doing all the guitar work on the album.
I didn’t know what to expect when I played that first title track ‘World On Fire’. The song started with the main guitar riff being played alone then the drums started alongside the heavenly voice of Myles Kennedy. It was glorious; the guitar riff is pretty catchy. Then the chorus riff came, the harmony between the instruments stands out. The song was full of energy; it’s the kind of stuff that you would like to listen to while driving really fast on a highway with your friends. Then the guitar solo. It made me wonder, can Slash ever be wrong with his solos? Like, can he actually create something that is even slightly bad for a solo? No, ladies and gentlemen, he can’t. I doubt he can mess up even if he wanted to.
‘Shadow Life’ and pretty much all other songs were full with hype, again with a perfectly impeccable guitar solo. Eloquent composition and harmonized guitars with the vocals of Myles Kennedy. The groovy riff of ‘Wicked Stone’ climbed to my ears straight up at first time. Then the melodies combined with the epilogue riff of the chorus and the final solo of the track. I couldn’t help but to notice how similar is the intro of ‘30 Years To Life’ to the famous song of ‘Paradise City’ by Guns N’ Roses. But as soon as the track started, they pretty much never looked back. It was truly a blast. The chorus melody is just as its priors; hyped, energetic and full with speed.
To be honest and fair, by that time. The whole “Bang your heads”, speedy, catchy tracks composition got a little bit old to me. So, the mood changed with ‘Bent To Fly’. A sensational track that made good use of Mr. Kennedy’s vocals. Add a sensational solo on top of it hitting the right notes every single time, and you’re good to go again. The rhythm took a slow turn to the best afterwards throughout the album with tracks like, ‘Too Far Gone’ and ‘Battleground’.
Although I really didn’t like the way that the harmonized vocals in ‘Beneath The Savage Sun’ were made, but I guess the good guitar riffs, chorus and shredding solos made up for it. The drum intro of ‘Dirty Girl’ was pretty groovy as well, with the high pitched solo of the track and the background vocals. I also couldn’t help but to notice how similar is the intro of ‘Iris Of The Storm’ to the other known track ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’. Maybe Slash was going through his old songs that he was inspired by, which is a pretty good move. I have to praise the musical notes written in ‘Safari Inn’, the only instrumental track in the album. These have to be some of the finest notes ever written by Slash.
Continuing his legacy of marvelous legendary guitar work, World On Fire is a fine record. Is it worth the money? Definitely. Is it worth your time? Of course. It’s a rich album filled with awesome guitar work and it is most definitely something worth checking out.
Edited By: Nehal A.Ali
