Album of the month: Long Distance Calling - Avoid the Light

I usually only discover things after they have already happened. It's just the way it is. And I shouldn't fight it really because there's no point, it will continue happening because I can't keep up with everything all at once. The important thing is that I end up discovering these precious things anyway, sooner or later and here it is again. Thanks to a friend of mine, again, I discovered this new band, they are called Long Distance Calling and possibly very little people know them. Some might have heard of them before, either because Katatonia's own Jonas Renkse lent his voice to one of their songs, or more recently because they were opening for Anathema's European Leg on their new album tour. Unfortunately that didn't happen in Portugal, something that saddens me a lot, but that's life, deal with it. Maybe I will see them eventually, in the future. I reckon opening for Anathema was a big step for them, it certainly opened new roads for them in terms of the diversity of the audience that listens to them.

"Avoid the Light", released in 2009, the album I'm suggesting for this month was my first contact with this band and I must say that the first date went really well :) Seriously, I'm a lover of instrumental albums and bands, I'm sure it has something to do with my musically and the fact that I like to listen to the sounds in detail so that I can later play them on my guitar. But the sound as a whole really interests me as well. So, instrumental bands were always appealing, especially if they were good of course. Here is another instrumental (almost, one of the sounds has vocals in it, Jonas' vocals) - but it's predominantly instrumental of course - album that everyone should listen to. I'm not discriminating, even people who never listened to metal or post-rock can enjoy this one, I'm afraid. I tend to find the heavier parts of the album the best but not because they are heavy but because they are clever and genius in terms of riffs. I value the originality of the riffs bands come up with, but of course originality always depends on the people's background and knowledge of other bands. And there are a lot of instrumental bands, but not all of them are worth my time, I'll assure you. Not that I'm high in my high horse and think that I'm this musical genius, far from the truth, but I think at this point, and after listening to so many albums for so many years, I know what I like and what sounds weak for me. And that's just me, I respect other people's opinions and try my best not to judge, I know my limitations. The bass is very predominant in this release which is also another thing I like to listen to, especially in metal albums. I also like long songs and long pieces of music with clever changes that seem to be fluidly created by the songwriters and a natural fit. We also have that in this album as well as enough variety to keep me interested, I can't speak for anybody else. Apart from all of these qualities already, there's beauty. I often speak about beauty in music and how I like it, so I'm probably gonna repeat myself, but who cares, I think this album provides a lot of beautiful musical moments and that's always a plus. It kinda shows a good taste and a very vivid sensibility to music in general, in my interpretation.

What else can I say? I'm curious about their other work, the earlier work and the new work they will be releasing next year. It's certainly a band to take into account when you are speaking of post-rock/metal and instrumental ability to write good songs. And it's not even a genre I'm an expert at, post-rock/metal or as some people call it "avantgarde". I prefer to call it instrumental because that way I'm not limiting the band's sound as much, it is undeniably instrumental, whatever else it may be, it's up to the listener to decide and conjure up. I just listen to the album and I like it a lot. Highly recommended, really.

Surprises unfold: Between the Buried And Me

So, I heard about Between the Buried And Me like 4 years ago. A mate from school recommended a song to me. I never listened to that song, I was too busy listening to other prog. A few years later, like in 2010, like now, I listened to "The Great Misdirect" which was released in 2009, so I'm late anyway. Now I'm exploring this new band starting with their latest release, that happens a lot. They are labeled as many things but to me, based on this record, they simply play progressive metal. That would be perfect for me right? Well, it is. So, I'm highlighting this album as one of the biggest surprises of the year so far, good ones, of course. The other good new band I found out about that made me feel the same way was "Stone Circle" when they released "Myth", totally different album but still genre bending progressive metal. Once in a while, a pearl like this pops up and makes itself visible to me, to my eager years. I see myself more and more attracted to extreme progressive metal sounds as much as "typical" progressive melodic metal. This is, however, a very difficult band, in the sense that most people won't really enjoy listening to them, too "specific" and "true" for most "consume, conform" minds. But, at the same time, they seem to be a very popular band, which, to me, is a contradiction. And why is that? They are in a big label and the press labeled them as metalcore? That might be it. Also, I feel you must have a certain musical background to really enjoy their music and understand what they are doing because there are so many musical genres involved and that are being explored and updated, taken aback, that one does need to be paying attention. But, in the end, this is the kind of music I love, music that isn't all that easy to understand or process, music that will make me think about what's being said and communicated, music that will speak to me on a higher level, music that will make me feel different things all at once, music that takes its time to reveal itself to me, music that feeds my brain and stretches it.

Between the Buried And Me - The Great Misdirect

And they will be playing in Portugal soon too, I won't be able to see them but I'm promoting it anyway. 24 June 2010 in Porto, The Great Misdirect European Tour hits our country. I'm sure it'll be worth it. They are very skillful and imaginative performers and they obviously know how to play their instruments.

Playlist das próximas semanas: metal para todos os gostos

Estes são os álbuns que tenho previsto ouvir nestas próximas semanas. Já ando a adiar alguns destes há muito tempo, mesmo desde 2008 e 2009. E está na altura de começar a ouvir a últimas novidades antes que fique completamente obcecada com os novos lançamentos deste ano. É bom voltar a bandas que não oiço há bastante tempo, mas que sigo com interesse e ouvir novos projectos que podem vir a ser surpresas positivas.

a) Ramp - Visions

b) Swallow the Sun - New Moon

c) OSI - Blood

d) Isis - Wavering Radiant

e) Vader - Necropolis

f) Megadeth - Endgame

g) Triptykon - Eparistera Daimones

Recomendações musicais: Devin Townsend - Addicted

If there's an album I was addicted to this year, it was Devin Townsend's "Addicted". And it was surprising to me because I never heard Strapping Young Land or any other Devin's previous projects. But this really is good stuff. And it's mainstream metal too for non-metal listeners. So, I'm suggesting it both to metal lovers and to casual metal listeners or even just usual rock fans. This is a great album regardless of what you listen to and it was definitely one of the best albums to come out in 2009. This is very tasteful music, written by one of the wildest personalities in metal today, a great songwriter which is also a great musician. I really admire him for that. In the end, "Addicted" really is an addiction and so much of what the album is about has to do with it.

Album quote: We don't even understand Something's going on