Here’s the thing about instrumental bands: They make music for the sake of making music. Radio stations won’t play songs without vocals, and many mainstream listeners don’t have the patience or imagination to sit through 50 minutes of lyrics-free music.
But then along comes Long Distance Calling, four German musicians that pride themselves on the fact they have no singer. On the band’s sixth album, Boundless—its first without a single guest vocalist—you can hear the joy in creating heavy music with bountiful melodies unencumbered by expectations. The album opens with “Out There,” a sophisticated metallic grinder that conveys the immediacy of this material, while the moody “On the Verge” is equal parts Joe Satriani and Pink Floyd. A cacophony of drums and guitars kicks off “Ascending,” which gradually evolves into redemptive bombast that recalls Milwaukee’s own Fibonacci Sequence. These are cinematic songs that will remain with you long after they end.
