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April 2024

• War Grave: War Grave EP
• Six By Six: Beyond Shadowland
• Vanden Plas: The Empyrean Equation Of The Long Lost Things
• Praying Mantis: Defiance
• King Zebra: Between The Shadows
• About Us: Take A Piece
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March 2024

• Cruzh: The Jungle Revolution
• Whom Gods Destroy: Insanium
• The Prog Collective: Dark Encounters
• Lords Of Black: Mechanics Of Predacity
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February 2024

• Traveler: Prequel To Madness
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January 2024

• Corvus: Immortals
• Caligula's Horse: Charcoal Grace
• Grand: Second To None
• Neal Morse: The Restoration - Joseph - Part Two
• The Rods: Rattle The Cage
• Gotus: Gotus
• Metalite: Expedition One
• Cobrakill: Serpent's Kiss
• Jack Russell & Tracii Guns: Medusa
• Jim Peterik & World Stage: Roots & Shoots Vol. 1
• The Grandmaster: Black Sun

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Long Distance Calling: Boundless

Melodic Progressive Rock (Instrumental)

3.5/5.0

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AFM Records
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 29.01.2018

German progressive post-rock band Long Distance Calling (LDC) returns with their sixth album Boundless. This time around vocals have been completely rejected (they were minimal on most previous albums), with the band reverting back to their four-piece instrumental core. Historically, LDC has always composed and recorded this way; lyrics and a voice to them always has seemed to be an afterthought (at least to me).

Long Distance Calling

It's enough to say that Boundless sounds like Long Distance Calling at it's core. Their music is melodic and ambient, structured yet experimental and explorative. This is melodic progressive post-rock with attention to textures and timbres, driven mostly by the guitar play of David Jordan and Florian Funtmann. Both emphasize riffs while weaving individual lines of their own singularity. If anything binds the song arrangements together it's the melody, harmony, and groove that somehow rises, surprisingly so, from LDC's multi-faceted concoctions. Another binding agent may be keyboards, but they could be guitar synths. I'm simply not sure.

Alternatively, LDC's sound is predictable in it's natural complexity. Vocals or not, their music can be easily redacted to two things, playful experimental guitar work which is supported by the cadence and groove of the rhythm section.

Conversely, perhaps bass player Jan Hoffman best describes Long Distance Calling's music when he says, "There's a lot of chaos under the surface. It is because we approach things completely without calculation, but rather do what feels good." What feels good. That's a far better explanation than the many words that I just scribbled. Simply, there's no reinvention of the wheel going on here. If you liked anything Long Distance Calling has done in the past, you will enjoy Boundless. Recommended.

Note: All Amazon advertising in this review first benefits the artist, then Craig Hartranft also receives a residual. Click, and thanks for your support.

Simply, there's no reinvention of the wheel going on here. If you liked anything Long Distance Calling has done in the past, you will enjoy Boundless. Recommended.

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Three years have passed since Sweden's Cruzh dropped their second long-player, Tropical Thunder, also introducing their new singer, Alex Waghorn. Now the band returns with The Jungle Revolution ... [ Read More ]