Alter Bridge frontman, Slash… And The Conspirators singer and serial collaborator Myles Kennedy is clearly not a man who enjoys empty spaces in his diary. But for all he’s created with other people, this third solo album shows just how special his work is when he’s given completely free rein to do whatever the hell he wants.
Kennedy has a fundamental understanding of what goes into creating a great rock song, and all the elements are present and correct on The Art Of Letting Go: the full-fat riffs, absolutely colossal choruses and that flawless voice all take centre stage. Yet it’s one of the quieter, more considered moments on the record that packs an emotional punch and leaves the listener reeling.
Eternal Lullaby, a heartbreaking song for the lost, is presumably inspired by the death of Chris Cornell: ‘Fell on black days now you’re gone for ever more,’ Kennedy sings, laying his cards on the table. A moment of stripped-back, tender beauty amid an album defined by its energy and alacrity, it finds Kennedy questioning, mourning and celebrating a fallen comrade all in one beautiful package. ‘It carries on, your song will never die, like an offering of love, a sacred rite,’ he continues, in a moving tribute that will make all but the hardest-hearted of listeners want to pick up the phone and check in on their friends.
Elsewhere, though, positivity and triumphant, full-volume, high-voltage melodicism reign supreme. Mr Downside is an instant classic that simply soars, a wild call for optimism, for joy in the face of adversity, for taking chances and choosing to be happy.
A defiant, stormy grunge bluster whips up Say What You Will and Saving Face, while Behind The Veil reveals a bluesy, country-tinged element. Nothing More To Gain, meanwhile, is nothing less than the long-lost cousin of Queens Of The Stone Age’s No One Knows, its ultra-cool bounce and shuffle lifting the spirits in an instant.
This album is the work of a master craftsman, a riff-filled inferno in which immaculate guitars blend so naturally, so gleamingly, with that force-of-nature voice, it feels like it was mined directly out of a cliff face rather than painstakingly created in the studio. Myles Kennedy is at the top of his game right now.
