''Avoid the Light'' (German: ''Meide das Licht'') is the second studio album by the German

post-rock Post-rock is a subgenre of experimental rock that emphasizes Texture (music), texture, atmosphere, and non-traditional song structures over conventional rock techniques. Post-rock artists often combine rock instrumentation and rock stylings wit ...

post-metal Post-metal is a music genre rooted in heavy metal music, heavy metal but exploring approaches beyond metal conventions. It emerged in the 1990s with bands such as Neurosis (band), Neurosis and Godflesh, who transformed metal texture (music), te ...

band

Long Distance Calling In telecommunications, a long-distance call (U.S.) or trunk call (also known as a toll call in the UK ) is a telephone call made to a location outside a defined local calling area. Long-distance calls are typically charged a higher billing rate t ...

. It was published on 24 April 2009 by

Superball Music Superball Music is a German independent record label. Launched on October 1, 2007, the label is still active, as of April 2024. It has previously partnered with Century Media Records and EMI. History Superball has attracted significant attenti ...

Production

Avoid the Light was the first album of the band under the new label

, coming to an end with Viva Hate Records. Upon changing to

the band recorded a demo containing the song Apparitions which would later be featured in Avoid the Light. The remaining songs of the album were written during 2008, while writing songs for the Split-EP ''

090208 Long Distance Calling is a post-rock band from Münster, Münster, Germany, formed in 2006. The majority of their tracks are extended instrumentals. History In 2008, Long Distance Calling played at the Rock am Ring and Rock im Park, Rock am R ...

'' with the band Leech simultaneously.metalnews.de
Interview mit Florian Füntmann von Long Distance Calling
/ref> The album was recorded in November 2008 in Tonstudio45

Koblenz Koblenz ( , , ; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz'') is a German city on the banks of the Rhine (Middle Rhine) and the Moselle, a multinational tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman military p ...

. '' Avoid The Light was produced by''

Kurt Ebelhäuser Kurt Ebelhäuser (Kurt Ebelhaeuser in English) is a German musician and record producer from Koblenz, probably best known for his work as guitarist for the indie rock band blackmail. He is also singer and guitarist for another indie rock band Scum ...

and the band. The mastering took over Pascal Stoffels. The cover was designed by Tim Klockentiedt. The vocals on the song "The Nearing Grave" were done by guest vocalist

Jonas Renkse Jonas Petter Renkse (born 19 May 1975) is a Swedish musician in the bands Katatonia (1991–) as lead vocalist, founder, songwriter (1991–1994, 1997–) and formerly as drummer (1991–1994, 1996–1998); formerly in Bloodbath Bloo ...

of the Swedish band

Katatonia Katatonia is a Swedish Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Stockholm in 1991 by Jonas Renkse and Anders Nyström. The band started as a studio-only project for the duo, as an outlet for their love of death metal. Increasing popularity ...

, who also wrote the lyrics for the song.

Background

The album title comes from a song by

Pantera Pantera () is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Arlington, Texas in 1981 by the Abbott brothers (guitarist Dimebag Darrell and drummer Vinnie Paul), and currently composed of vocalist Phil Anselmo, bassist Rex Brown, an ...

for the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

of the film ''

Dracula 2000 ''Dracula 2000'' (also known as ''Wes Craven Presents: Dracula 2000'' and internationally as ''Dracula 2001'') is a 2000 American horror film co-written and directed by Patrick Lussier and produced by Joel Soisson. Starring Gerard Butler in th ...

''. The band members were looking for an album title, and overheard the song playing on a Pantera CD while they were in a hotel.metal.de
Long Distance Calling-Interview
/ref> The lack of a degree in the song "359°" intends to represent that nothing is perfect in life. "I Know You, Stanley Milgram" is based on the

small-world phenomenon The small-world experiment comprised several experiments conducted by Stanley Milgram and other researchers examining the average path length for social networks of people in the United States. The research was groundbreaking in that it suggest ...

by the U.S.

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...

Stanley Milgram Stanley Milgram (August 15, 1933 – December 20, 1984) was an American social psychologist known for his controversial Milgram experiment, experiments on obedience conducted in the 1960s during his professorship at Yale University, Yale.Blass, T ...

. The last song "Sundown Highway" was given its name by guitarist Florian Füntmann after hearing the finished song. In his opinion, the song conveys the feeling of meeting the sunset while driving on an isolated highway.

Track listing

Reception

'' Avoid the Light'' was given very good reviews by the press. Christian K of the online magazine ''Metal.de'' said in his review "musical excellence, as far as the eye can see" and scored it a nine out of ten points. For the critics of Werner Online Magazine ''in-your-face.de'', ''Avoid the Light'' "is a very refreshing approach to music as an art form." The album was described as a "small masterpiece" and awarded nine out of ten points. Some negative comments came from the reviewer Claudio of the online magazine "sleaze metal", which said "the album is too complex and demanding for daily or long-term enjoyment" for what he awarded it a 6.5 out of ten points.sleaze-metal.de:

References

{{Authority control 2009 albums Long Distance Calling (band) albums Superball Music albums