This is strong instrumental modern progressive rock from some talented youngsters from Germany. It reminds me a bit of Steven Wilson from Porcupine Tree without the vocals. It’s spacey and dreamy in a lot of ways, rocking out much of the time with wide open canvases and not really going for the heavy solos. The music seems to be open for vocal melodies, and had me warbling over it a few times. A good deal of the recording could have been enriched with a talented vocalist.
I really enjoy the way opener “Into the Black Wide Open” musically dovetails back into itself in a palindromatic manner, with a rolling bass line and the bar chords of guitar floating in and out of unison. The rhythm section of Jan Hoffman and Janosch Rathmer is outstanding and as evidence I present “The Figrin D’an Boogie.” “Timebends” sounds very modern and features great Edge-influence echoing from guitarists David Jordan and Florian Funtmann.
Title cut “Arecibo (Long Distance Calling)” is suitably powerful to be their signature opener or closer for many a live outing in the future. A powerful and driving guitar line with hard-hitting drumming leaving an indelible impression in your brain. A waft of the middle-east begins the next cut which presents John Bush from Armored Saints on vocal. “Middleville” is a good metal piece, not unlike many of the bands in this genre. It surprisingly does not reach the standard of much of the rest of the vocal-less LDC.
“Beyond the Void” is trippy-psych ala Pink Floyd or early Alan Parsons. It is very Dreamy, perhaps coloured with a hint of Tangerine? I listened as the piece kept building and building until finally exploding in a cacophony of noise on the fadeout when it finally had no place else to go. An excellent finish to this record.
Much of this seems a bit one-take, improve-like, though I’m sure that hours were spent preparing for this recording. It’s a gift. This will appeal to fans of Porcupine Tree, U2, Tool, and Pineapple Thief that enjoy listening to music without vocals or like to make up their own lyrics and melody. It’s actually kind of fun if you feel inspired. Give it a try. This is great music for it.
Reviewed by Terry Jackson on October 10th, 2011
