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MYLES KENNEDY
Year Of The Tiger
Napalm Records 2018

Ruben Mosqueda Myles Kennedy, who's best known for his work with ALTER BRIDGE and Slash has taken advantage of his down time with both the aforementioned to release a solo effort. Kennedy's vocal is an acquired taste, at times he's guilty of oversinging, often times sounding to my ear much like a reality show contestant. Killer pipes and tone but he can get overindulgent. Those that have followed Kennedy's work with SLASH AND THE CONSPIRATORS have witnessed him doing justice to the GUNS N’ ROSES catalog with ease and quite frankly better than Axl Rose can these days.

His solo album Year Of The Tiger isn't necessarily a concept record however; the songs are strung together and based on the passing of Kennedy's father when the singer was four years old. The eldest Kennedy succumbed to illness; Myles has struggled with the various decisions his father made during that time leading up to his passing, based on his strict religious beliefs. Let’s not forget this also documents in song Myles coming to terms with not having his father around during his most formative of years. This is heavy content, no question about it, but he made it work seamlessly well.

Kennedy's first solo outing has been described by the press as a ‘bluesy' sounding record or as an ‘acoustic' record. It's not entirely either; it leans toward acoustic, with mandolins, lap steel and banjos, but there’s bombastic drums on tracks, electric bass and electric guitar with some orchestration for good measure. On Year Of The Tiger Kennedy puts on the best performance of his career thus far; his 70s influences shine through on this album, specifically those of LED ZEPPELIN. Year Of The Tiger is a ‘singer/songwriter’ kind of album. The highlights on the record include “Year Of The Tiger”, “Devil On The Wall”, “The Ghost Of Shangri-La”, “Haunted By Design”, “Mother” and “Song Bird”. I might not listen to an ALTER BRIDGE record and I will listen to only select cuts from SLASH AND THE CONSPIRATORS, but I would reach for this album for the solid songwriting, lyrical content and its at times somber yet uplifting nature.

3.0 Out Of 5.0