After a solid beginning with 2007's Satellite Bay, Germany's Long Distance Calling is back in action with its second long player, aptly entitled Avoid the Light. My initial impression of this sleek quintet was that its sound was hard to pin down but falls roughly in the "post-metal" side of the fence by virtue of the similarity of techniques employed, even if LDC does steer clear of the more troublesome cliches of the genre that quickly get a band labeled as an Isis clone. Nonetheless, a solid grasp of post-rock dynamics and build was demonstrated and showed a sophisticated side to an otherwise rock/metal oriented band.
Fast-forwarding two years, it's not completely obvious that Long Distance Calling has enacted any major changes in the band. I didn't immediately notice anything substantially different about Avoid the Light when compared to my memory of Satellite Bay, other than the swapping of Peter Dolving for Jonas Renkse, but after a few times through the album I had realized that this new album is vastly superior to its predecessor. It took a revisit to the band's old work to pinpoint why this is, and in the process it revealed some things about Satellite Bay that weren't functioning properly but have since been retooled to create a more dynamic listening experience.
The biggest boost for Avoid the Light is that everything just sounds better. Production has picked up quite a bit, surely, but it's more than just that. Whereas previously Long Distance Calling might be inclined to slide into a rock/metal breakdown whenever it felt like a track was meandering on for too long, now the band is more confident in its ability to provide enticing sonic scenery for the audience. A large part of this responsibility falls upon Reimut van Bonn, credited for providing "ambience" to the music. His role on Avoid the Light is noticeably more active and important. As the band strays away from directly engaging instrumental music, van Bonn's ambience is all the more important since he is able to bring the music to the next level by filling out the sound and creating interesting textures. A side effect of van Bonn's contribution is that the guitarists don't need to rely on pedal effects to create interesting progressions. A pitfall of many guitar-based albums is that these guitarists rely too heavily upon their gear and the music becomes repetitive in the process. But here, the guitarists are able to do what they do best - play guitar, and not step on pedals (sorry Edge!). What results is an album full of tracks that are interesting, aren't overly repetitive, and have a full sound.
It might not sound like that huge of a change in the band, and, indeed, the resulting sound isn't drastically different than anything on Satellite Bay, but what Long Distance Calling has done is effectively modified its songwriting process to be more collaborative so everyone is able to perform to their full potential. Nowhere is this better illustrated than on the opener, "Apparitions". The twelve-minute behemoth glides through eight minutes of pretty instrumentation before getting to the meat of the track: a good two minutes of LDC-style hard rock. "Black Paper Planes" follows up similarly but with more teeth, and "359" takes an unexpectedly minimal approach before shocking the listener in the end with a surprise string appearance during the climax. "I Know You, Stanley Milgram" returns to form and provides a suitable companion for "Apparitions". The album starts off strongly and manages to keep the listener entertained through spectacular progressions, powerful climaxes, and small, unanticipated surprises.
Satellite Bay may have inched out a better score than a 6.5 were it not for the vocal misfortunes of "Built With Hands". Even though the track itself wasn't horrible, its style didn't jive with the rest of the disc and ultimately raised a lot more questions than a track should at the back end of an album. Dolving (The Haunted) has now been swapped for Renkse (Katatonia), and before I checked the track out, I knew it was a move for the better. Anyone familiar with Renkse's work in Katatonia and understanding here LDC's is coming from on Avoid the Light should know this track was going to be a knockout. Renkse's airy vocals mix well with LDC's instrumentation and continue the trend of all the sonic components melding into a cohesive, powerful force. Arguably, "Nearing the Grave" is the album's strongest point, and I surely wouldn't complain about LDC included more vocal tracks in future work.
Long Distance Calling has gotten a lot of mileage out of a series of very minor changes on Avoid the Light, and it just goes to show how close the band was at striking gold with Satellite Bay. As it currently stands, LDC is a small step away from a classic. They've successfully found their voice on Avoid the Light but haven't yet created their magnum opus that will go down as a classic. But it is pretty apparent that this is the next stop in the road.
-Jordan Volz