SLASH's 'Apocalyptic Love' Song Is 'Earth-Shattering,' Says Bassist TODD KERNS

Iconic, Grammy-winning rock guitarist and songwriter Slash will release his second solo album, "Apocalyptic Love", on May 22 via Slash's own label Dik Hayd International distributed through EMI. To reflect singer Myles Kennedy's (ALTER BRIDGE) increased contributions to the new CD, "Apocalyptic Love" is being made available under the name "Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the CONSPIRATORS." The disc will follow Slash's 2010 debut album, "Slash", and his November 2011 first-ever live solo album, the two-CD/DVD set "Made In Stoke 24/7/11". Notably, the "Slash" album debuted on The Billboard 200 chart at #3 (#1 on the Rock chart, #1 on the Independent chart, and #1 on the Hard Music chart). Digitally, the album also became the #1 overall digital album and hit #1 on iTunes in 13 countries. Internationally, the disc achieved Top 5 chart positions in over a dozen major territories, hitting #1 in both Japan and New Zealand.

In the U.K., "Apocalyptic Love" will be released on May 21 in exclusive Classic Rock Fan Pack form — providing a unique collectable package containing the studio album with bonus tracks alongside a specially created magazine with unseen behind-the-scenes content put together by Classic Rock. The Fan Pack format will also come with free gifts, including a pin badge and artwork poster and will be available to buy via more than 2000 retail outlets on newsstands nationally as well as the traditional high street and online music retailers. Roadrunner Records will simultaneously release the record digitally. The standard physical release of the Slash album will follow through Roadrunner Records on June 18.

For the new album, Slash — along with and his bandmates Myles Kennedy (vocals),Brent Fitz (drums) and Todd Kerns (bass) — teamed with producer Eric Valentine, who also produced the "Slash" disc. All the songs were written together by Slash and Kennedy, and cameras have been rolling throughout the entire making of the album.

Commented Kerns on his official blog: "A few weeks back we finished recording the new Slash album that has since been titled 'Apocalyptic Love' after the lead-off track, which is earth-shattering!

"We finished up recording at Barefoot Recording with [producer] Eric Valentine and the very next day we were shooting an in the studio performance for Mativision. We performed all 13 songs from 'Apocalyptic Love' for the Mativision cameras. The cool thing is that while watching it on your computer, you'll be able to select what you wanna look at and switch around 360 degrees all over the place. It is totally mind-blowing. Crazy. I have no idea what format that's coming out in, but it is to be part of some fancy release of the album.

"In the CONSPIRATORS, we have a new face in the fold. Our brother in arms of the past couple of years, Bobby Schneck [guitar], has moved on and I wish him all the best in the world. Bobby is an amazing guy, a great talent and a great friend.

"The newest Conspirator is none other than Frankie Sidoris. Look out! We got some young blood in the band. Gonna have to step up my game now! Frankie comes from Las Vegas' own THE CAB. Fitz and I jammed with a lot of people to find this kid and he's gonna be a monster. In the future when you're all clamouring about how wonderful Frankie is, remember it was us who found him!"

Photo credit: Travis Shinn