Slash has made no secret of his preference to play with bands rather than as a solo artist with a revolving door of session musicians. For his second solo album he's brought together Alter Bridge singer Myles Kennedy, bassist Todd Kerns, and drummer Brent Fitz to help him crank out his iconic hard rock guitar riffs as part of a group. The album is exactly what Slash fans would hope for: a mix of tunes that kick in near the sweet spot of Rocks-era Aerosmith, Appetite for Destruction-era Guns N' Roses, and classic mid-'70s hard rock in general. "Standing in the Sun," "You're a Lie," the title track, and "Bad Rain" spotlight Kennedy's hard rock instincts and Slash's Gibson Les Paul–through–the–Marshall–stacks approach to everything. To a man with a Les Paul in hand, every song needs a power chord. The album's deluxe version is preferable, adding two bonus tracks (the funky "Carolina" and "Crazy Life") to complete Slash's vision of the perfect hard rock band.