UMUR "The Flood Inside" is the 4th full-length studio album by German post rock/metal act Long Distance Calling. The album was released through Superball Music in March 2013. Since the release of the band´s third full-length studio album "Long Distance Calling (2011)", a significant lineup change has taken place as Reimut Van Bonn (electronics and sound) left in April 2012. Keyboard player and vocalist Marsen Fischer then joined the lineup, which marks the first time Long Distance Calling have had a permanent vocalist in the lineup. Their music has predominantly been instrumental up until now, with only a few tracks featuring guest vocalists. Among others Jonas Renkse from Katatonia.

Even with a permanent lead vocalist in the lineup, the music on "The Flood Inside" is predominantly instrumental like the case were on earlier releases by the band. Even the tracks which feature vocals also feature longer instrumental sections. The colourful and often atmospheric guitar playing, the occasionally heavy distorted riffing and the quite busy drumming by Janosch Rathmer are still central in the band´s music, like they have been since day one. The musicianship is overall on a high level. Marsen Fischer has a bit of an anonymous and not very distinct sounding voice, but his singing is pleasant enough and suits the music well. "The Flood Inside" is well produced and features a warm and pleasant sound.

"The Flood Inside" is in many ways a quality release by Long Distance Calling, but that´s to be expected from these guys. However they seldom reach the excellent mark, where their music takes me away to another dimension and therefore my rating is closer to 3.5 stars (70%) than a full 4 (80%). It´s still a great release though.

UMUR "Avoid The Light" is the 2nd full-length studio album by German post rock act Long Distance Calling. The album was released through Superball Music/SPV in April 2009.

The music on "Avoid The Light" is pre-dominantly guitar driven post rock with the two guitarists complimenting each other and playing countermelodies. The drumming by Janosch Rathmer is still a treat IMO. The man is a greatly skilled and busy drummer. The music on the album is fully instrumental except for the song "The Nearing Grave" which features a guest vocal performance by Jonas Renkse from Katatonia. It´s a good choice that Long Distance Calling have opted to include some vocals on the album because it makes the album more dynamic. The instrumental songs work well too though.

The production is professional and well sounding. Suiting the music perfectly.

I really hoped that "Avoid The Light" would make me appreciate Long Distance Calling more but to be honest I feel just about the same about this album as I did with the last. It´s a great album and I enjoy listening to the album on occasion but it seldom reaches the excellent mark IMO and thereby stays pretty much in the standard zone. If you enjoy melodic, melancholic and very well played post rock you might enjoy this a bit more than I do though and it´s definitely still a recommendable album even though I have my reservations. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "090208" is a split EP release by German post rock act Long Distance Calling and Swiss ditto Leech. The EP was released through Viva Hate Records in September 2008. "090208" features five tracks. Two tracks by each artist and a short intermission which is credited to Long Distance Calling but it´s just a short atmospheric piece.

The two tracks by Long Distance Calling are re-recorded versions of "Metulsky Curse" (with the title "Metulsky Curse Revisited") and "Black Bird Vs. Red Bug" which were both featured on the "DMNSTRTN (2006)" EP by Long Distance Calling. "Metulsky Curse Revisited" improves on the original version, while the new version of "Black Bird Vs. Red Bug" can´t disguise the fact that "Black Bird Vs. Red Bug" was the weakest track on "DMNSTRTN (2006)". While I initially got this split EP because of the Long Distance Calling songs I´ve been pleasantly surprised by the two Leech tracks which are featured on the EP. Long Distance Calling´s post rock style is very guitar driven and rely heavily on the two guitarists complimenting each other and playing countermelodies. That´s not exactly the case with Leech who uses lots of atmospheric piano and keyboards in their sound. Both "Oktober" and "Inspiral" are excellent post rock compositions with a great atmosphere and interesting ideas. Especially the latter mentioned is very impressive to my ears.

The production is excellent both on the Long Distance Calling and the Leech tracks.

"090208" is a great split EP release and especially the Leech tracks appeal greatly to me. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is well deserved. Sometimes Split releases can be a real drag if you´re only interested in one of the artists that appear on the release but in this case I was introduced to a new band which I probably wouldn´t have found otherwise, so I guess the split idea worked like a charm this time around.

UMUR "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.

UMUR "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.