Can't Stop The Daggers - High

Hear The Track Here

If you think it's been a while since we last heard a HELLbus track (remember them?), there are several good reasons - notably because main man Jon Partelow went walkabout. He turned up a couple of times last year playing with Friends Of Friends (Right Direction, July 2007) and some members of Azoora; if my memory serves me correctly. So, he's been a bit busy. Finally though, Can't Stop The Daggers, the new project gets to see the light of day. A three way collaboration between M. Partelow (Vocals, Keys, Programming, Jittering), Chris Chattom (Upright/Fretless Basses, Guitars, Programming, yada ) and Ben Dumbauld (Drums, Percussion, Vibes), Can't Stop The Daggers will be new to most everybody, even if HELLbus is a name to conjure with.

Given the above lineup the sound is not surprising, like most competent trios, they make each instrument count. I had a bad case of hero worship when I was a lad with Cream, probably the best trio there ever was, and CSTD have echoes of that time in their music. The more I heard it the more convinced I became that this was literally a throwback. It's a track that could have originated out of the wildness of the summer of 1967 itself, so close is its arrangement and style to the original pyschedelia. It even had me sorting through me kaftans and wondering where I could score some acid and that hasn't happened in many a year.

Given Jon's reputation and what I know of him, production is not going to be a problem here, he's always known what to do to get the best out of his tracks. The dense, bass heavy track is exactly what is needed for the pyrotechnics, as is the priceless kick sound, all which help to stomp this track onto your brain. Not that it has any trouble on that score anyway, this is a track to get high with and savour. The vocal, while languid, gives the track its wide screen, big country flavour in much the same way as Bono's does, and again that is one of the tracks bigger pluses. The true meaning of a power trio...

Excellent Alternative rock. MUST HAVE