Upon release, ‘Living the Dream’ sort of flew under my radar, because the previous album that Slash released with Myles Kennedy and his backing band, ‘World on Fire’, wore out its welcome a little too quickly. The album was not without its strengths, but it was much longer than it should have been. It may not have helped that ‘Living the Dream’ has an equally hideous album cover, but credit where credit is due: it is a far better album. Being twenty-five minutes shorter definitely helped focus on the band’s strengths a little more, but the songs are simply better as well.

As a whole, ‘Living The Dream’ sounds a bit more lively than its predecessor, as if the material was road-tested or at least well-rehearsed before the recordings. Rhythm guitarist Frank Sidoris was actually part of the recordings this time around, which might help, but the individual songs stand out a little more as well. Again, this might be an effect of having twelve songs on the record rather than seventeen, but every song has at least one passage most listeners will remember it by. Interestingly, this passage may not always be the chorus, as some of the most catchy musical ideas on the album are guitar riffs.

Whether it is due to producer Michael ‘Elvis’ Baskette having more experience working with him, also through Alter Bridge and his solo albums, is unclear to me, but Kennedy notably gets more room to explore the possibilities of his range here. The mixed register voice he is known for is omnipresent on ‘Living The Dream’, which is understandable, as making his voice rise above the loud rock ‘n’ roll on the album is necessary often, but he is also provided with opportunities to equip a much lower voice in the first verses of ‘Serve You Right’ and ‘Read Between the Lines’ as well. And naturally, he sounds great doing it.

Similar variation can be found in the way the band explores how far they can stretch their hardrock sound without sacrificing their identity. Each song on this album sounds like it has been done by the same band, but the leap from the uptempo, almost punky ‘Mind Your Manners’ to the surprisingly good power ballad ‘Lost Inside The Girl’ is about as big as you could possibly get within the style. Slash’s trademark more metallic riffs are a a bit more rare than usual, but when there are songs like the supreme melodic hardrocker ‘Boulevard of Broken Hearts’ and the powerful opener ‘The Call of the Wild’, this should hardly be a problem.

Rock stars rarely learn from their mistakes, but Slash appears to be an exception to the rule. ‘Living the Dream’ basically takes a look at the flaws from ‘World on Fire’ – too many songs, not enough variation – and corrects them with a set of songs that are both well-written and expertly executed. The album as a whole is incredibly energetic, but the band makes sure that the melodic hooks stand out enough to give every song its own character. So if you like this type of rock ‘n’ roll, please do yourself a favor and look past that eyesore of an album cover. It hides a pretty damn good album.

Recommended tracks: ‘Boulevard of Broken Hearts’, ‘Serve You Right’, ‘The Call of the Wild’