Review: Slash – Orgy of the Damned
Gibson Records (May 17th 2024)
Reviewer: Colm Banville
This blues album from the man they call Slash dates back to a jam session in the late 1990s a short while after the musician left Guns ’N Roses to form a band of his own. It was called Slash’s Blues Ball, and it members included Johnny Griparic on bass and Teddy Andreadis on keys, and drummer Michael Jermone.
Arriving on May 17th comes this delightful blues-rock album, ‘Orgy of the Damned‘. On it, Slash is joined by some fine artists and musicians. They perform a goodly selection of covers which are sure to delight Slash’s old fans and attract a lot of new ones.
The album gets going with a Steppenwolf number—no, not ‘Born to Be Wild‘, but ‘The Pusher‘, with The Black Crow’s frontman Chris Robinson singing and playing outstanding harp. It’s a lazy number and long, but well worth the listen.
There are some other fine musicians here—Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top is particularly notable, with a good ol’ gritty vocal on Howlin Wolf’s ‘Hoochie Coochie Man‘.
The album sets a mighty fine blues train rolling down the track with other musicians such as Iggy Pop, and Bad Company’s vocalist Paul Rodgers belting the vocals on Booker T’s number ‘Born under a Bad Sign‘, with Slash adding his super-glittering sound to the mix.
Other tunes to look out out for are ‘Key to the Highway‘, and a blistering Fleetwood Mac cover, the classic ‘Oh Well‘, by country star Chris Stapleton, and ‘Stormy Monday‘, featuring the superb Beth Hart.
But the most outstanding song on the album has to be AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson who goes hell for leather on an amazing version of another Howlin’ Wolf number, ‘Killing Floor‘ —and yes, that is Steven Tyler of Aerosmith blasting out the harmonica with some “oh yeah” moments thrown in. This has to be one of the best versions to date of this song, as Slash said in a recent interview. By the way, Mr. Tyler has just released ‘Killing Floor‘ as a single.
The album closes with an instrumental composed by Slash, called ‘Metal Chestnut‘, with wah wah included of course, for your entertainment only.
This opus is essential for your rock ‘n’ blues collection.
Tracklist:
01 The Pusher feat. Chris Robinson
02 Crossroads feat. Gary Clark Jr.
03 Hoochie Coochie Man feat. Billy F Gibbons
04 Oh Well feat. Chris Stapleton
05 Key To The Highway feat. Dorothy
06 Awful Dream feat. Iggy Pop
07 Born Under A Bad Sign feat. Paul Rodgers
08 Papa Was A Rolling Stone feat. Demi Lovato
09 Killing Floor feat. Brian Johnson
10 Living For The City feat. Tash Neal
11 Stormy Monday feat. Beth Hart
12 Metal Chestnut
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