Slash Lights a Fire Under The Heavy Metal Universe

All cylinders are performing at optimum level throughout "World on Fire", a devil horns encouraging blast it out featuring Slash our friendly neighborhood piston cranker from Guns N' Roses. I admire how the tune doesn't sacrifice lucid melody for the usual metal bombast, although there's enough of the latter to satisfy the healthiest of appetites. Standing guard at the mike is Myles Kennedy who complements Slash's no punches pulled guitar mastery excellently. He's bearing his teeth for our amusement. Color me highly amused. Everyone involved is wedded to that brutal rush to the finish line and they don't care how many brain cells get sacrificed in the name of true blue metal. Literary dramatics occupy their share of the lyric real estate early on. We're reminded of what tragic figures we humans are (some sadly more so than others). Certainly you've rubbed elbows or broken bread with the misfit, the sinner, the eve, and the fool. It's at the chorus where this project earns back every dollar that was plunked into it. The Conspirators, Slash's backup band channel their energies into one maelstrom of a metal swarm. Brent Fitz power drums like he was staking his legacy on this very performance. Todd Kerns chips in with a bass that's equal parts heavy breathing menace and laser precise machine worked through its paces down to a nub. Naturally Slash owns the guitar solo department at the bridge. He's had the frequent thrasher miles to back up his bravado, believe you me. The asylum patient is clearly running the joint. His ownership pays off for us in spades as he's seldom sounded as devil may care as he does on "World on Fire". It couldn't hurt that he doesn't have Axl Rose's colossal ego taking up a mammoth chunk of the stage. I probably wouldn't be wrong in assuming the song would go over really well on a concert stage. The second verse goes deep into the religious arena. Speaking in tongues comes right up front. Myles proposes to tempt the people with the evils of the flesh and so much more. He likens himself to a Babylon redeemer and a whore. Does a certain someone have self-esteem issues. Depends which part of his anatomy you're zeroing in on. The main thrust is as you'd guess setting the world on fire. Such action is a common in times of boredom. We're greeted with the latest carpe diem moment. "It may never be this good again". It's not the most subtle hint we know of and that's why the title refrain works its magic to the last sliver of pixie dust. As one expects "World On Fire" is built to thrill. It roars down the track without batting a eyeball to the spectators wondering who this maniac with a death wish might be. You wait around patiently for a let up in adrenalin but, gleefully, you learn isn't one on the horizon. Nihilism lurks behind "It's so dark, I can't see all the truth inside us. All I want is to feel something that's real before the end." Dark places are where heavy metal lays sinister eggs, then lies in wait for its progeny to hatch. Myles is appropriately unspooled from one segment to the next. No, he doesn't growl like the pit bull you'd give anything not to be on the same sidewalk with. His stylings are slanted towards the mad chemist aching for an excuse to go kaboom. Slash has chosen wisely. His mates don't need to be asked twice to crank up the volume and rip off the knob. "World on Fire" rates global respect across the board.