New Music Review – Slash: World on Fire

                Slash has been at this for a long time and while most people love his contributions to Guns ‘N Roses far more than anything else he has done, I have to admit that later-era Slash is quickly becoming my favorite version.  For a quick Slash history lesson, he started out in Guns ‘N Roses (instead of Tracii Guns who went on to form LA Guns), and when Axl Rose did Axl Rose things and G’N’R (at least it’s most popular incarnation) disbanded.  Slash went on to form Slash’s Snakepit (which bares quite the resemblance to his current work) and then formed the supergroup Velvet Revolver with Duff and Matt from G’N’R as well as vocalist and heroin cautionary tale Scott Weiland.  I have a feeling, if Weiland had not done Weiland things, that Velvet Revolver would still be going today.  Alas that was not the case and Slash ventured out on his own.  His  initial solo album was a collaborative effort, everyone from Ozzy to Lemmy to Fergie played a role.  It was here that the current incarnation of the band was formed when he partnered with Myles Kennedy.  That brings us to now and the band of Slash; Featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators.

                I’m not going to lie, I was never a huge Myles Kennedy fan, even during my review of Apocalyptic Love upon its release I mentioned how I was unimpressed by the vocals.  Myles grew on me every time I listened to that album (and it was  a lot) and while I will never count him as one of my favorite vocalists, his presence on World on Fire was not as jarring as it was on the initial playthroughs of Apocalyptic Love.  His range as a vocalist is incredible and he meshes with Slash and the Conspirators better than anyone save maybe Axl Rose.

                As good as Kennedy is on this album (as well as the Conspirators, let’s not discount their contribution) this is a Slash album through and through.  The guitar work is beautiful throughout, with a very Iron Maiden-esque galloping guitar style playing a prominent role on the last two albums.  Not that Slash has changed his style at all, but I have definitely noticed that style more with this band.  Slash has grown as a guitar player throughout his various projects (and that’s saying a lot for someone that was a legend after his first G’N’R album) and I have enjoyed seeing that journey, and conversely, can’t wait to see where it goes next.

                While the album is good, it definitely has an Apocalyptic Love – Side B feel to it.  I am hard-pressed to find anything too new or different on this album.  This is not a bad thing at all, who really wants to reinvent themselves every two years or so, but in terms of the tracks on Apocalyptic Love and those on World on Fire, it feels like they were written at the same time and then split, almost like Use Your Illusion I and II, an inadvertent double album so to speak.  To be honest, that is perfectly fine with me, the more music Slash releases, the happier everyone will be.  Now to just get him to tour around the Central New York area…

The Eat @ Shrimpy’s 2012 Best of

I have combed through my reviews this year to bring you a best of list.  If you neglected my recommendation the first time*, follow the links to re-read the reviews and make some post-New Year’s purchases.  If I neglected something, or you think I ranked one too low, please let me know in the comments, we’ll start a dialogue.

*Where I have failed to provide a previous review there will be a small blurb as to why I included that particular thing.

Concerts:

1.         KISS and Motley Crue: The Tour

2.         Govt. Mule

3.         LA Guns

4.         Def Leppard and Poison

5.         Iron Maiden and Alice Cooper

CD’s:

1.         Slash – Apocalyptic Love

2.         KISS – Monster

3.         Nonpoint – Nonpoint

4.         Led Zeppelin – Celebration Day

5.         ZZ Top – La Futura

Comic Series:

1.         Punk Rock Jesus – Vertigo

2.         Think Tank – Top Cow

3.         Atomic Robo – Red 5 This comic is probably the most fun you will have reading this year.  It takes a fairly formulaic premise (I liken it to a Robot Hellboy) and uses science, both real and imagined to up the fun factor.  The dialogue is fresh, fun and hilarious.  I highly recommend picking this up in trade or otherwise as it can’t be missed.

4.         The Goon – Dark Horse 

5.         Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye – IDW (Look for the review coming this month)

Honorable Mention – Chew – Image  Best straight up Image book by far.  The art is great and you could spend a lifetime looking for all the little hidden phrases and easter eggs.  The writing is incredibly strong and keeps getting better as each new wrinkle to this 60-issue mega series is revealed.  Luckily we are only halfway there so there is still a lot to come.

Video Games:

1.         Borderlands 2 – I am still working on this game, and I doubt I am even halfway through, but it is turning out to be the most fun gaming experience I have had in a long time (and this coming from a guy that is pretty much anti-FPS).  Everything about the first Borderlands is replicated in the second, only better.  The graphics are great, the writing is better, and the whole premise just seems more epic.  I’m still looking for a vault, and still shooting psychos in the face with a multitude of sniper rifles, but it all seems bigger and better this time around. 

2.         Mass Effect 3 – A fitting end for one of the best franchises in modern video games.  The graphics and gameplay were what we have come to expect from Bioware in general and Mass effect specifically, but it was the scope of the story (we’re saving the Earth!) that still manages to fit in personal relationships and little nuances that have highlighted the series to date.  If you have yet to play a Mass Effect game, get started and remember when you are slogging through the mining portions of the first game that the payoff of continuing your story through 2 and 3 is well worth it.

3.         Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning – I think Raven and I collectively dropped around 200 hours on this game in terms of play time.  And while the end boss fight was relatively anti-climactic especially once you knew how to do it, the lead up to that was some of the most fun I have had in a fantasy RPG in awhile.  That is what Dragon Age II should have been.  Unfortunately I don’t foresee a Kingdoms II in our future as the studio is no more, but we can only hope.

4.         Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

5.         Darksiders II – Huge in scope and not as repetitive and clunky as it’s predecessor, Darksiders II takes all the good from the first title and makes it faster and sleeker, while giving you more to do and more to find.  It has a more involved RPG-element to it that gives you a bit more control of the progression of Death, and is more satisfying than the button mashing of the first one.