Long Distance Calling - Boundless album review

Post-rock Germans step back for a wider view

Cover art for Long Distance Calling - Boundless album

You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.

For their sixth album, Long Distance Calling are going back to basics. The German post-rockers began as an instrumental outfit, dabbling with guest vocals and only introducing full-time singers on their last two albums. With Boundless, everything’s stripped back to the initial formula – all instrumentals, no guests, no vocals. The difference is that by now the quartet are experts in texture, tone and atmosphere, eschewing the post-metal tropes of loud/quiet dynamics. The majority of tracks are left to their own devices, steadily building to vertiginous peaks of thundering noise and vortexes of melody. Consequently, there’s a lawless feel to Skydivers and Ascending, the latter opening with Mastodon-esqueriffery before overcast ambience takes it to a dark, dramatic place. Boundless might revisit LDC’s roots, but it’s less a step backward, more a cinematic homecoming.

Dannii Leivers

Danniii Leivers writes for Classic Rock, Metal Hammer, Prog, The Guardian, NME, Alternative Press, Rock Sound, The Line Of Best Fit and more. She loves the 90s, and is happy where the sea is bluest.