Band:	Long Distance Calling
Album:	Satellite Bay
Style:	Post rock
Release date:	2007
A review by:	Marcel Hubregtse

01. Jungfernflug
02. Fire In The Mountain
03. Aurora
04. Horizon
05. The Very Last Day
06. Built Without Hands
07. Swallow The Water

Post-rock/post-metal
Viva Hate Records
Germany 2007
Total Running Time: 58:42

CD or 2-LP can be ordered at http://www.vivahaterecords.com

Line-up:
David Jordan: Guitar
Janosch Rathmer: Drums
Florian Füntmann: Guitar
Jan Hoffmann: Bass
Reimut van Bonn: Ambience

voice on "Built Without Hands": Peter Dolving



"Nothing that makes this world a better place lasts for only three minutes. Nothing of relevance embraces you and abruptly leaves afterwards. Music does not need to be divided into five minute long chapters, verse-chorus-verse. Music needs room, not rules, it needs freedom, not boundaries."

These opening words from the accompanying biography to Satellite Bay ring totally true to my ears. If, you, the reader, disagree with this statement then Long Distance Calling's Satellite Bay is not for you and you will be better off going back to your verse-chorus-verse structured bands.

Long Distance Calling is a German band that started out rehearsing early 2006. All its musicians already having played in several mostly heavier bands. Now they wanted to record a different kind of music than what they had done earlier. No limits, no restraints.
So what does it sound like, I hear one ask? What is presented here are seven tracks totalling 60 minutes in the vein of Isis, Cult Of Luna et al. Mostly spun out instrumental tracks that rely on atmosphere with a lot of dynamics to create soundscapes. It is a sonic journey into the world. First creating visions of landscapes filled with meandering brooks and rivers only to descent into the bowels of the earth confronting one with one's own fears. This confrontation is best exemplified by the songs The Very Last Day and Built Without Hands. The Very Last Day contains the first slight vocals of the album, albeit spoken and whispered adding to an eerie mood. Built Without Hands features the biggest surprise of the album, namely the guest vocals of one Peter Dolving, yes, him of The Haunted. It is the fact that his name is mentioned or else I would totally not have recognised the vocals as those of Peter. Here he doesn't sound his aggressive usual self, but more forewarning of an apocalyptic event bound to hit any moment.

All in all Satellite Bay is filled with great music which could almost feature as a soundtrack to films such as slowed down versions of Koyaanisqatsi. So replace Philip Glass's soundtrack there and insert this one instead and the film will still have as much impact.

This is post-rock/post-metal, ooh, how I hate those terms but I finally have found a use for them now it seems, the way I like it.

Stand-out track for me is the aforementioned Built Without Hands and opener Jungfernflug.