The proof is all over West's brand new album Still Climbing. At nearly 68-years-old he's packed some of the most soulful and searing vocal performances of his half-century career into these 11 tracks, and, indeed, his guitar has never sounded more massive or riff-propelled.

West, who ascended rock's Mt. Olympus with his band Mountain � and a Gibson Les Paul Junior in his hands � during a historic performance at 1969's Woodstock festival, accomplished all that despite a life threatening battle with diabetes that cost him most of his right leg in 2011, just after his previous album The Unusual Suspects was recorded.

"I'm lucky it wasn't one of my hands or I'd be screwed," West says with his customary candor. "It was a difficult struggle, and after the amputation I didn't know whether I'd ever want to or be able to perform again. But a month later I played at the Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp in New York City, and I heard my guitar on stage and that was it. I knew I had to keep going.

"This record is a sequel to The Unusual Suspects, where I had Slash, Zakk Wylde and other friends come to the studio and play," West explains. This time Jonny Lang, Johnny Winter, Twisted Sister's Dee Snyder and Creed's Mark Tremonti do the honors.

"What's different on Still Climbing is that I wanted my guitars to sound as big as I look. I plugged them into my amps � no pedals � and turned them up loud and raw, and what you hear is exactly what I did in the studio. I played one of the early tracks we recorded for Slash, and he said, 'That is as heavy as it gets.' "

Still Climbing , which was co-produced by West and his drummer Mike "Metal" Goldberg, also benefits from Goldberg's sterling engineering and a mix by Mike Fraser, who's worked with AC/DC, Rush, Joe Satriani, Bad Company and many others.

But Slash is right. Songs like the epic guitar flare-up "Dying Since the Day I Was Born," the bone crunching "Hatfield or McCoy," and the blues-rock monolith "Busted, Disgusted or Dead" establish a new litmus test for "heavy." The latter features West and Winter on dueling slide guitars. Both men have been friends since the Woodstock era, and in recent years they've toured together and kicked methadone addiction.

"We're thinking we should write a book about that experience," West relates. "Everybody talks about being addicted to heroin or cocaine, but methadone, which is a synthetic opiate used to get you off of heroin, will grab hold of you and not let go."

West also gave up smoking cigarettes and pot after a bout with bladder cancer, so it's no wonder many of Still Climbing's numbers explore the theme of survival.