Long Distance Calling, Sleepstream, We Own The Sky
Eightball Club, Thessaloniki, Greece
28/1/2012
Fourth Saturday night in the row for this month to go to Eightball Club to see a gig. This January was rather hot as far as gigs are concerned, so after Entombed, Samsara Blues Experiment and Maiden United, it was time to see another great German band from Dusseldorf, the rising force called Long Distance Calling, brought by the same promoters that offered us the show of Samsara Blues Experiment. They seem to have caught the vibe of the youngsters craving for new sounds, and they do their best to add some more enjoyable nights to our calendar, in the best possible way. This night, we also enjoyed two more great Greek bands, We Own The Sky from the city of Athens and Sleepstream from Thessaloniki, which both of them showed a great potential for the future and they warmed the crowd up for good.
We Own The Sky played for about half an hour and I was lucky to arrive at Eightball just when they started their show (perfect timing,huh?) and they proved why they had a
place in this gig’s line up. An instrumental act of post rocking ambiance where needed, without hesitating to show some progressive elements on their sound, with songs varying from four to six minutes mainly. They thanked the crowd for being there and supporting them, as well as the promoters. The fact that they seem to take their music seriously and they play it with intensity, without hesitating to bang their heads between the songs, managed to win the impressions for them and at the end of their short but pointful performance, we all praised them with a warm applause that they surely deserved. Future’s bright for them in a sound that’s rising on and on.
Sleepstream have recently released their first full length entitled ”A Waltz With The Seventh Crane” and it was a chance for them to present it in its entirety. 
Seeing the development of their new born baby live (the album hasn’t even completed a month and a half since its release) is something we will definitely remember when they will become a large band, as it seems pretty certain. The guys had an incredible sound by their side and the fact that their songs are filled with a cello and a violin, gives them extra credits and broadens the width of their expression, something which the fans were discussing during and after their fifty minute performance. They told us that the response they have got for their album so far is tremendous and they will do anything to give back what they have got so far. Well, they certainly did it in this first time I saw them, on the first occasion I shall purchase their cd also. They are playing with Crippled Black Phoenix on March and it’s a great reason to attend this show. Count the days, we’re in it!
Long Distance Calling eliminated our ears for about eighty minutes and they showed why with each album they become even larger in status and artists like Jonas Renkse from Katatonia, Peter Dolving from The Haunted and John Bush from Armored Saint, take part on their albums, acknowledging them as something special that they want to participate. Their recent self-titled third album may be the one that will open wide the doors for them to pass through untrained ears. The point is that the German quartet gave an astonishing show, presenting material from all three albums 
(”Satellite Bay”, ”Avoid The Light” and ”Long Distance Calling”) and their sound is twice addictive in a face to face condition, especially bringing out their heaviness combined with the great touch of sensational feeling they offer to their fans. The atmosphere would either vary to closing your eyes to feel the magic, to simply bang your head to their most heavy outbursts, pretty much a gig that can cover everyone’s tastes in the end.
Among other details to be mentioned, is the joy on their faces, where you could see the band really having fun and looking amazed from the response they had from about 300 fans inside Eightball. The smiles on their faces betrayed them and even while playing stuff as ”I Know You, Stanley Milgram”, ”Sundown Highway”, ”Black Paper Planes”, ”Aurora” and other memorable compositions, they were overtaken by the fact they were treated as a really great band by the fans. Maybe that’s why they gave a great encore and promised us to come back as soon as possible. Who would dare saying that we’d have the chance to see such bands in the year of 2012… The fact that such gatherings seem more than a warm atmosphere makes things even better, as everyone you see has an urge to have fun and not just show off to the others, looking more evil or informed, as it tends to happen in metal shows. The crowd attending these new bands seems to have a more relaxed aspect on music, that in the end the only thing you see, is people hanging out together and discussing how much fun they had. The way it should always be. The promoters know what to do and we certainly will see more stuff by them. Until then, be prepared!
Report: Aggelos “Redneck” Katsouras.
Photos: Andrew Koran.