SATELLITE BAY

"Satellite Bay" is the debut full-length studio album by German post rock act Long Distance Calling. "Satellite Bay" was released through Viva Hate Records in 2007.

The album features seven tracks. Two of them are re-recorded versions of tracks that were also featured on the "DMNSTRTN (2006)" EP. "Fire in the Mountain" and "The Very Last Day" were definitely among the best tracks on "DMNSTRTN (2006)" but personally I prefer the original versions to the versions on "Satellite Bay". It´s like the two tracks lost a bit of power in the re-recording process. Especially "Fire in the Mountain" seems to suffer from the re-recording. While the original version was positively on fire, this version is a bit less energetic. The music on the album is melodic instrumental post rock with some excursions into post metal territory. Especially the drumming by Janosch Rathmer points in that direction. He is quite a skilled and busy drummer. The instrumentation consists of two guitars, bass, drums and ambience (which in this case means samples and atmospheric sounds) courtesy of Reimut van Bonn. The music is guitar driven and the two guitars really compliment each other well with various countermelodies and layers. If I had to name an influence on the music I´d mention Mogwai. The highlight on the album is "Built Without Hands" where Long Distance Calling suddenly include vocals on an otherwise fully instrumental album. The vocals work well and at a point on the album where I found my attention drifting I was suddenly paying full attention again. The guest vocalist is Peter Dolving (Mary Beats Jane, The Haunted).

The production is clean, pretty polished and professional.

Long Distance Calling pull off their melodic instrumental post rock style pretty well but my attention sometimes drifts and that´s always a sure sign that the songs lack a bit of character and memorability. Taken one by one the songs are very enjoyable but it´s the album as a whole that becomes slightly long drawn along the way. Don´t let my minor complaints put you off though this is still a very strong album and it fully deserves a 3.5 star (70%) rating and lots of attention from fans of the genre. I hope the band include more vocals in the future though as their presence on this album created some much needed variation.

3.5 stars. LONG DISTANCE CALLING are one of my favourite Post-Rock bands based on the two albums that follow this their debut from 2007. A five piece German band with two guitarists, a bass player, drummer and electronics creating the atmosphere. Interesting that on each of the first three albums the second last track of each has a guest vocalist which I must say adds to my enjoyment for the most part as they mix it up a bit. The band themselves say they aren't a Post-Rock band and I get it as they offer up this instrumental Metal that does have some Post-Rock styled guitars at times.

"Jungfernflug" opens with atmosphere then the music starts to slowly build a minute in. The guitar comes in over top at 4 minutes and they hit us with some power at 4 1/2 minutes. I'm not big on the riffs that follow a minute later. It settles back after 6 minutes to a mellow sound. I like this all the way to the 9 minute mark when it kicks in again. "Fire In The Mountain" opens with atmosphere as slowly pounding drums join in then guitar and bass. A pleasant sound as spoken words arrive just before 3 minutes reminding me of a song from THE SPACIOUS MIND. The voice lasts for about a minute then the sound turns more powerful. Nice. Post-Rock styled guitars after 6 minutes.

"Aurora" sounds really good to start with the depth of sound as the bass and drums lead the way. Picked guitar arrives then later around 4 minutes in we get riffs followed by a full sound. Distant spoken words after 5 minutes. A nice heavy sound here with the guitar over top. Riffs come and go and I'm not into them. "Horizon" is the shortest track and I like it, quite catchy. "The Very Last Day" opens with some powerful atmosphere that pulses as the drums join in. Spoken words talk about the oceans rising destroying cities all over the world. The words are brief and it turns heavy before 4 1/2 minutes. More spoken words late as it calms down.

"Built Without Hands" is by far my least favourite vocal track of the first three albums. His voice is distant sounding and extreme at times. Just not my thing. I like the instrumental work though from mellow to heavy. "Swallow The Water" opens with percussion as guitars join in and it builds. Catchy. The beats back off before 4 minutes as the guitars become the focus. It starts to wind down around 6 minutes in. A nice closer.

Some rate this as high as the next two ,I probably rate the next two higher than most with the self titles one from 2011 now being my favourite. Good to see Avestin agrees with me on that. It was good at least to spend some time with the album that got them started.