DMNSTRTN

"DMNSTRTN" is the debut EP by German post rock/metal act Long Distance Calling. The EP was independently released in 2006. There are four songs on the EP which has a playing time of 31:14 minutes. So lots of quantity for the money and I can assure you that there are lots of quality too.

The music is very melodic instrumental guitar dominated post rock/metal. I´ll mostly put Long Distance Calling in the post rock camp but there are heavier parts on the EP that could be catagorized as post metal. As mentioned the music is fully instrumental but there are some really atmospheric voice samples in the music which work to great effect and add some variation to the sound. The album starts with the song "Fire in the Mountain" which blew me away the first time I listened to it and it still does. Powerful and melodic. "The Metulsky Curse" is also a great track but I think the quality drops slightly on the EP´s weakest track "Red Bug vs. Black Bird". It´s a decent track but nothing more. The 11:06 minute long "The Very Last Day" closes the EP in great style though.

The compositions are generally of high quality but it´s the musicianship that puts the icing on the cake. These guys are skilled musicians and they have some great adventurous ideas. I especially enjoy the melodic guitars but also the rather busy drumming by Janosch Rathmer. His use of double bass drums for fills is very charming. Not very subtle but definitely enjoyable. That man has roots in metal drumming that´s for sure.

The production is excellent on the EP. Clean, rather polished and professional.

All in all "DMNSTRTN" is a very good debut release by Long Distance Calling and while it´s just short of the 4th star IMO it´s very recommendable if you enjoy melodic and polished post rock/metal. There are definitely some excellent parts on the EP. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

First of all I must say I´m totally new to this so called post rock/math rock genre. So this review is for beginners too. I wanted to know something about this kind of music and Dmnstrtn is my first entry into this world. Basicly this band is a quartet (two guitars, bass and drums) plus a fifth member, Reimut van Bonn, who takes care of ´ambience´ (I believe this is the background effects you hear throughout the CD, like voice samples and things like that);

The music inside is totally instrumental, with the guitars working as a unit producing a series of chord progressions in a minimalistic way. There are almost no solos, the songs are all based on those chords with bass and drums providing a strong support. All the musicians are good ones and I specilly like thed the bass player. Production is also very good and clear. The music is nice, pleasant and harmonic, although not really my cup of tea. I much rather hear something more ´traditional´.

Still I´m glad I got this EP and started my knowledge in a differente field of sounds. I´m gonna look for their latest releases to see if they did add something more interesting into their already well structured work. My rating as a newbie: 3 stars. Good, but defintly not essential.