Myles Kennedy
Year Of The Tiger

For Myles Kennedy, the first solo album comes at forty-eight years old and after playing a lot of music. The passion for the six strings and for Led Zeppelin began when the young Myles was not even fifteen. His first much-desired guitar came with the proceeds of hard work in the stables of the family estate in Idaho. Despite his talent and deeds being mostly attributed to rock and metal, blues and jazz have also always been part of his repertoire. In the early years of his career, Kennedy dedicated himself to jazz playing for the Cosmic Dust, which also allowed him to get closer to fusion.

The Alter Bridge frontman kept dozens of pieces in the drawer for years, as he lacked the courage to debut solo. Legend has it that even months before the release of this debut album, he already had the follow-up ready ("The Ides of March," which will be released three years later).

"Year of the Tiger" is a concept album entirely centered on the premature death of Richard Bass, Kennedy's father (Myles took on the surname of his stepfather who raised him and his brother after their biological father’s death), which occurred in 1974, the Year of the Tiger, in the Chinese calendar. Mr. Bass was faithful to the dictates of Christian Science and died due to appendicitis he refused to treat. This tragedy marked the young firstborn and undermined his existence. Throughout the entire tracklist, we find anger and incredulity, passing through sadness, and ultimately arriving at the bitter awareness that the death of the parent could surely have been avoided. "Mother" is explicitly dedicated to his mother and involves the whole family in the discourse, as well as the difficulties they had to face in the years following that sad event.

Musically we find passion and variety. It moves from the country of the soft "Haunted by Design," dealing with the demons of the past, to the melancholic blues of "Blind Faith." If with the opening "Year of the Tiger" the shadows and sadness of that cursed 1974 are contemplated through explicit metaphors (“On a cold, cruel July, we didn’t know when the pale horse would arrive”), the theme of departure is tackled in the somber verses of "The Great Beyond" (“Just close our eyes, and sleep sweet dreams. Me and you with wings on our feet”). Resentment is not hidden with "Nothing but a Name" and redemption is sought through the seesaw of vocalizations in "Turning Stones."

Kennedy's voice brings the narrative to an even higher emotional level and manages to give a deep soul to the singing of each piece, beyond the fact that it is a life experience involving the author personally. The peak is reached with the melodic "Ghost of Shangri La,” sweet and melancholic at the same time. The demons do not leave those who sing about their presence and invisible tears are dried by good and omnipresent ghosts.

If the rockabilly sounds of "Devil on the Wall" give a more optimistic and light reading of the events, the splendid "Love Can Only Heal," led by meowing riffs, is a tribute to Mr. Kennedy, healer of the wounds generated by too much love that betrayed those who have always felt it. Myles' octaves give their best, essentially shelving the clouds with "Songbird" and the closing "One Fine Day,” showing us that a dark sunset will lead to a bright dawn.

"Year of The Tiger" is an album that astonishes and bewilders, excites, and leads to a new dimension. If listened to with the awareness of being far from the rock and metal typical of Alter Bridge and the side project with Slash and The Conspirators, this work becomes a round trip through the deepest experience of those who conceived it and had the courage to exhibit it. The live dimension assumes an even more intimate character, between improvisation and facial mimicry, and is an experience that must be tried.

Overall, listening to this work means giving a caress to our soul and a moment of reflection to our mind. It is therefore approved with flying colors. Without a shadow of a doubt.