Orgy of the Damned

Orgy of the Damned is a covers record on which Slash goes deep into the blues classics at his own roots. Released in 2024, twelve songs across about 69 minutes; lavish guest vocalists appear, but the center is the guitar's tone and its sense of space. A varied cast lines up, starting with “Oh Well” featuring Chris Stapleton. It keeps the boldness built on rock's big stages while carefully drawing out the earthiness and the breathing room in the original songs. That he stepped away from the band-billed run of records and returned to his own name alone also says a lot about this album's character. Fast phrases and flashy solos aren't the only lead. Where to place a single note, how much to support behind the singing — that sense decides each song's expression. Facing music he has known since he was young, with the hands of a long career, and the result became the record itself. Here is another Slash, neither Guns N' Roses nor the Conspirators. A flavorful record for re-hearing Slash's guitar with the blues as the way in. Perhaps the most unusual of his long career — and the closest to his bare face. Fourteen years on from the debut, the circle looks closed.