Contraband

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The collaboration everyone’s been talking about is set to blow a hole in the rock world just as the Soundgarden/Rage Against The Machine supergroup, Audioslave, did in 2002.

Velvet Revolver features ex Guns’n’Roses heroes Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum as well as Dave Kushner (Electric Love Hogs) and vocalist Scott Weiland (Stone Temple Pilots) and their debut album ‘Contraband’ is everything you hoped it could be.

As you can imagine, ‘Contraband’ sounds like G’N’R mixed with STP – a sound that is never less than awesome. Every riff is huge, every vocal heavy, yet melodic and every track devastating. This is a raw rock record that delivers a mighty sonic blast from the punchy opener ‘Sucker Train Blues’ through the spiteful ‘Illegal 1’ and onto the magnificent ‘Headspace’. Elsewhere the emotive ‘Fall To Pieces’, acoustic ‘You Got No Right’ and psychedelic closer ‘Loving The Alien’ offer tantalising glimpses of new directions for the future but never detract from the primary directive of the band: To Rock!

‘Contraband’ is the work of musicians who have been through the wars and come out fighting on the other side. Whether they all survive for the follow up is another matter but for now just enjoy this incredible rock record.