Slash's second studio album with Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators is a lot like its predecessor, Apocalyptic Love, in how it channels the hard-rock wallop of Appetite For Destruction-era Guns N' Roses. While the title cut recycles the cowbell from "Nightrain," "Wicked Stone" employs a metallic funk a la "Rocket Queen." Despite these similarities, "Shadow Life" expresses the vital difference between 21st-century Slash and GnR. When Kennedy howls "The shadow life will only break your heart," he distances the group from the lifestyle that destroyed the original Guns N' Roses.