Slash has always been influenced by the blues since the moment he picked up a guitar. He always played hard rock with bags of emotion, soul, energy and feel, it's partly what has kept his guitar playing with Guns N' Roses a cut above.
The title, 'Orgy of the Damned' takes its name from rock and roll and blues music as being taboo - often referred to as 'The Devil's Music.' No surprise that the album features a host of mostly classic blues tracks. It would have been great to hear Slash go right back to the genre's roots and do a full album of songs by some of the seminal blues men and women. Maybe next time. For now, he mixes things up and keeps things hot and heavy.
Slash could have opted to do an instrumental album of blues numbers and taken center stage, (there's one newly penned track, 'Metal Chestnut' at the end of the album), but as he's probably more comfortable sharing the limelight he brings on a host of raunchy singers and some surprise curved balls to bring to the party. For the band he brings along Walter Trout's bass player, Johnny Griparic (bass) and Teddy Andreadis (keyboards) both in Slash's Blues Ball and adds Michael Jerome (drums) and Tash Neal (vocals and guitar.)
Chris Robinson does a terrific job of sounding like a whisky-soaked, aged blues man on Hoyt Wayne Axton's 'The Pusher' - a track popularised by Steppenwolf on the film Easy Rider. Next up is Gary Clark Jnr on 'The Crossroads'. This Robert Johnson song is an obvious inclusion on the album, but with Slash and Clark sparring together with incendiary blues licks, they manage to raise the energy on this well-worn blues number.
Billy Gibbons's turn on Hoochie Coochie Man is a predictable, but excellent choice. AC/DC's Brian Jones sounds like a Tom Jones tribute act on 'The Killing Floor.' This different singing style in his lower register certainly suits him. It also got us thinking back to the Millenium Gala where Slash and Mr Jones both performed and got us thinking that a proper Slash X Tom Jones collab is something that we'd love to hear.
Demi Lovato and Chris Stapleton are the aforementioned curved balls. Both artists work outside their comfort zones but do a great job of taking on a Fleetwood Mac and Temptation's classic respectively. Oh, did we mention that Steve Tyler also appears with some mean harmonica playing?
Predictably Slash's guitar playing channels Hendrix, Clapton, and all the other bluesmen, but still has his characteristic sound. His playing remains adroit and packed full of emotion, but never feels like it's overcooked, and he knows when to take a back seat and let the vocalists take the driving seat. The music isn't too dissimilar from the originals, they are just more ballsy and interpreted in a slightly different way, but still faithful to the originals. Everything was recorded live in the studio, with a heavy emphasis on improvisation. It has that live energy and that's partly thanks to the production. The album's production - courtesy of Appetite for Destruction's, Mike Click, is crisp, but raw. The album sounds like an open mic night recorded in a Road House, with blood on the walls and beer on the floor. It's sleazy, dirty and pretty darn wonderful to listen to.
If indulging in this Devil's music damns us to Hell then, then see you on the other side!
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