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Slash is the greatest guitarist who ever guitared. He oozes so much talent from his pores that it just drips wherever he walks. Everything he works on is jam-packed with rock n’ roll attitude and turns out terrific. While Guns n’ Roses slowly make that comeback that everyone keeps forgetting about, Slash has been busy with Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, busting out pure distilled rock n’ roll.

I bought their newest album 4 on vinyl. It comes in a nice reflective silver package, so that when I hold it up I can see the face of an intelligent music consumer with great taste. It came with a guitar pick that I will cherish until is goes missing next week, and an awesome red record full of music.

As soon as you put that record on, you’re greeted by a heavy slog of riffage, and you know this is going to be a great ride.

Slash’s ability to create memorable riffs is nonpareil. Most of these riffs are just cool, like if you found a guy in a leather jacket smoking a cigarette and turned him into music. These riffs jump from sleazy to sorrowful to sultry from song to song, and every one of them is as captivating as the last. We didn’t get anything earth-shattering like Sweet Child o’ Mine or Anastasia from this album, but the tortured scream from Fall Back to Earth came close.

Myles Kennedy is one of the greatest singers in rock history. He’s got a level of distinctiveness and originality that puts him the same echelon as Chris Cornell or Rob Halford, and the talent to rank with Axl Rose or Freddie Mercury. I think we’re all lucky that we get to appreciate this master in his prime.

4 is a modern album of timeless music. This isn’t punk, or thrash, or prog, or alternative, or any other stupid subgenre sticker we love to put on our music. It’s rock n’ roll, pure and simple. Slash isn’t trying to write anything else, and he never has. But it doesn’t sound old- the production is terrific and it sounds like an album that came out a month ago.

You don’t have to have a no-homo boner for Slash like I do to enjoy this album. It’s a quick 45 minute listen, it comes in an awesome package, and it’s just a jolly fun time. So put it on and rock out like it’s 2022.