Slash featuring Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators, “4.”

While many have been limited to writing and recording their albums in isolation or over video calls, Slash and Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators flipped the script for the release of their latest collaboration. The group traveled together to Nashville, where the members booked a studio and made the thing together for a more immediate and in-the-moment result. The effort is Slash’s fifth album away from Guns N’ Roses and his fourth playing alongside Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators.

The group achieves the desired result. The songs are organic, urgent and upfront. The album’s 10 tracks aren’t overcooked or overproduced. They simply sound like a group of musicians getting together to play rock and roll. Pop in a pair of earbuds and hear each individual instrument in the mix in perfect balance. At times, the album has a throwback sensibility to it. Slash and Myles Kennedy are a prolific pair, recording music in a variety of settings.

There aren’t necessarily surprises on 4. Opener “The River is Rising” is all the best of what you’d expect from the group: soaring choruses, hard-driving riffs and, of course, an explosive guitar solo. One of the most reliable vocalists in rock, Kennedy is on point here.

“Whatever Gets You By” starts as a Doors-like blues romp that jumps into a southern rock fist-pumper. “C’est la vie” builds around Slash’s wah-pedal-soaked guitar licks before the rest of the band joins on another blues-inspired rocker. “The Path Less Followed” again taps into the past, sounding like it could have been recorded in the ’70s. It’s actually a breath of fresh air when hard rock songs emphasize melody over heaviness.

Even Slash keeps things bare-bones in his guitar work, limiting the effects and letting the riffs do the talking. Case in point is “Louder Than Words,” which features some wah and phase effects, but beyond that, the guitar sound is organic and upfront. Drummer Brent Fitz even mixes in some cow bell for good measure.

The dynamic “Spirit Love” begins as a heavy slow-burn before things open up and get heavier. The track features one of Slash’s best lightspeed guitar solos on the record.

One of the longer tracks on 4, “Fill My World,” doesn’t quite qualify as a power-ballad, but is more of a mid-tempo anthemic rocker. Slash once again masterfully navigates his way around the fretboard, not only for the extended solo but for the melodic licks throughout.

“April Fool” leans a little bit more into a sound that blends classic rock with grunge and upbeat blues. “I guess the joke’s on you,” Kennedy sings on the infectious hook. The Conspirators turn things up for “Call Off the Dogs,” an unrelenting rocker that’s one of the fastest on the record. It encapsulates the energy the band was looking to capture by recording together.

The album concludes with “Fall Back To Earth,” a heavy progressive power ballad that, at over six minutes, is the longest on 4. The song journeys from a slower melodic verse to a heavy and dramatic chorus and a spacey solo. The record succeeds in showcasing everything that Slash and Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators do best. It’s not groundbreaking but is a well-constructed rock album that should please the musicians’ fans.

Follow writer Mike DeWald at Twitter.com/mike_dewald.