Currently Listening Libertad By Velvet Revolver see related

Today is a day in which you'd be hard-pressed to name ten decent, straight forward, ‘balls-to-the-wall’ good old fashioned rock and roll bands. I can't even think of five. However, within this rock drought, there has emerged a phoenix out of the ashes by the name of Scott Weiland, and his band, Velvet Revolver. Their new album, Libertad, is an oasis of rock in a desert of bad rock music.

The band strikes hard with the opening number ‘Let It Roll’ and doesn’t let off until the lovely finale of ‘Gravedigger’ and a twangy country secret track where the guys let their hair loose and show their versatility. Matt Sorum and Duff McKagan keep the tracks groovin’ with their heavy bass lines and bloody knuckled drumming. It’s always a pleasure to hear Slash shredding with that signature tone and those signature licks.

The album follows a nice progression, moving from a fierce opening four songs with the nice, toned down melodies of ‘The Last Fight’. There are a few possible radio hits on the album including ‘She Mine’, ‘Let It Roll’, and ‘She Builds a Quick Machine’. The only possible downside to this album is that it often suffers from the typical ‘over-compressed’ audio that is all-to-common in today’s music. Also, Scott Weiland has a great voice that I don’t think needs many of the effects that production has chosen to add.

Despite these few setbacks, Libertad offers up some of the best rock numbers I’ve heard in a while. Infectious, gritty, and uncompromising rock. 7.5/10.