Velvet Revolver
– Contraband
Contraband is what happens when you light a match in a room full of gas fumes and let five rock lifers take over. Slash, Duff, and Matt Sorum drag their Guns N’ Roses past into the new millennium with teeth bared, while Scott Weiland, fresh from the wreckage of Stone Temple Pilots, croons, growls, and spirals like a man trying to outrun his own obituary. The result? Not a rebirth—more like a brawl between ego and instinct, and it’s loud enough to matter.
Best of…
This is the sound of rock hanging on by its last cigarette. The riffs come in hot and crusted with grime—Slash is clearly having the time of his life wrangling tone and tension out of that Les Paul. Weiland? He’s the wild card, adding a strange poetry to the testosterone-soaked swagger. Some moments echo the sleaze of Sunset Strip, others hint at deeper bruises. It’s not reinventing anything, but it’s not playing it safe either.
Contraband thrives when it leans into that push-pull: vintage grit meets modern corrosion. It doesn’t always stick the landing—there’s bloat, some filler—but when they click, it’s like catching a spark off rusted metal. This band shouldn’t have worked on paper. But for a brief moment, they did. And they made it sound dangerous again.
Choice Tracks
Slither
The single that shoved them back onto radio. That main riff doesn’t walk—it stomps. Weiland snakes through the verses before exploding into a chorus that refuses to stay underground.
Fall to Pieces
The obligatory power ballad, but it earns its place. Slash’s melodic leads are soaked in regret, while Weiland delivers one of his most vulnerable vocal takes. It’s messy in all the right ways.
Big Machine
Hooky and feral. Slash’s guitar is practically purring, and the rhythm section pounds like it’s trying to break through concrete. Weiland struts and sneers his way through a toxic love letter.
Dirty Little Thing
Feels like a lost GNR b-side pumped full of adrenaline. The song barrels forward, all riff and attitude, with zero regard for subtlety. It’s a bar fight in under four minutes.
Set Me Free
Originally cut for the Hulk soundtrack, it sounds like a band kicking down the door. Raw and urgent, with a chorus that just screams to be shouted back at a stage.