The Slider features two tortured souls from Auckland heavy rock/blues band His Masters Voice (The Devil's Blues).
Rene Black and Az Burns have created a down and dirty little beast here, featuring Rene on lead vocals and drums, with Az tackling all guitars/bass and keys, and there is a stack of talent on display within.
The album kicks off with The Beckoning, a church organ / industrial keyboard intro that does indeed beckon you to explore further. They Crawl opens with a gunslinger flavoured riff, I can picture this song opening a dark and twisted Tarantino or David Lynch western film. The vocals are slippery, distorted and raw and remind me of a cross between Marilyn Manson and Tom Waits. Just over the halfway mark and the song kicks into gear with tasty drums, heavy guitar licks and doomy bass runs, I feel like I need to shower after listening to this track, grimy, low down and mean, very cool.
Dead Inside starts with a sample then eases into a Portishead inspired groove but with a filthy blues underbelly attached. Tasty guitar licks and subtle keys add sweet icing to the menacing cake base. The Night kicks off with harmonica, distorted vocals and more of the western blues-tinged doom style, with Rene's cool lyrics "I'm the devil and I'm the man, I'm a rebel with simple plans" it's dripping with dark blues and this track cements the sound these guys have created.
The Crossroads is indeed the devil's blues, featuring some very tasty guitar playing by Az burns. It's a cool interlude before Funeral Pyre takes a grip, this blues/doom number slowly devolves into metal riffing whilst still retaining a heavy blues flavour and works well. Other stand out tracks are Blind and the epic 10-minute plus closing track I Am The Snake, a sprawling evil bluesy number, that's experimental, heavy and oh so delicious.
The Slider have created a sound all of their own here. I call it horror movie western blues. If quality heavy n dark doom blues is your bag then this offering will definitely spin your wheels. Nice work lads!
From Auckland, NZ, long term musical partners Rene Harvey and Az Burns (both current and previous members of His Masters Voice, Cripple Mr Onion) are proud to present The Slider.
A product of over 20 years of playing music together, The Slider began as a stripped back blues project but has turned into its own monster exploring dark doom, psychedelic, graveyard blues...
All duties were conducted by the two of them: