Slam Cartel where a band i’d never heard off before last week, I nipped out to the shops for some milk, i had planet rock on the radio, and heard this cracking song “Wishing Eye” and said to myself “ This is good” , lets turn this up louder, so I did, and who was it ?, it was a band called “Slam Cartel”, so I gets the milk, and a paper, and just as im getting home, the postie arrives with some cd’s from various record companies, and guess what’s in the pile ? yup, the Slam Cartel cd, now that’s a result.
So is it any good.
Well the first song, “Wishing Eye” is already on Planet Rocks playlist, and for a dam good reason, its very loud, and very catchy, especially the chorus, this will become a firm favourite straight away, and the 2 nd song isn’t bad either, then a brave thing happens, they do a cover of the “Talking Heads” classic “Once in a lifetime”.
Somehow they have done this song justice, and brought it bang up to date, partly thanks to the arrangement, and partly down to Giles Van Lane’s vocal performance, which is an essential part of the orginal.
This cd is a right bag of mixed tunes though, from the thoughtful love song “Breathe” followed then by the hard hitting tune “Shine” which borders on thrash, this cd never shy’s away from being slightly different, and that is no bad thing.
“Mismatched Ties” sounded to me like another cover version, and I had to double check to make sure it wasn’t, “Hold Me” and “Powerstorm” pack a meaty punch and as a debut, it is rather good.
There’s a good mix of songs on this cd, 13 in all, all vying for your attention, from slow meaningful love songs to the more meaty hard rocking like tunes, it all blends together rather well.
8/10
Slam Cartel are:
Giles Van Lane
Terence Warville
Tom Hendriksen-
Adam Lee
Marc Neudeck
Steve Campkin

Track Listing.
1. Wishing Eye
2. Handful Of Dreams
3. Once In A Lifetime
4. Breathe
5 . Shine
6 . Hold Me
7 . Free Again
8 . Missmatched Ties
9 . Goldenstream
10 . Powerstorm
11. Maybe Sometimes
12. Sundown
12. Sundown
13. Walk A Mile