Sain Magazine July 2004Recommended!
After incongruous beginnings as a bar band in the film Coyote Ugly, The Calling
could have easily have slipped back into obscurity. Although earning global attention in
2002 for their smash hit "Wherever You Will Go" and subsequently selling
millions of albums, a tumultuous period saw the band line-up stripped to core members Alex
Band and Aaron Kamin. The Calling finally returns to the fray with the aptly name Two, the
assured follow up to their debut, Camino Palmero. While dabbling in similar music
styles to Nickelback and Creed, The Calling's Alex Band exhibits a far more diverse vocal
range than the contemporaries Chad Kroeger and Scott Stapp. The Calling also holds the
trump card over rivals in terms of the musical diversity displayed on Two with the
shifting arrangements offsetting any chance of formulaic rock. The problem for the record
company lies in choosing which of Two's equally striking tracks deserves to be the
next single. The emotive "If Only" with it's peppering of flamenco
flourishes and the uplifting sounds of "Anything" will have even jaded
listeners hooked. Over three years on from their Coyote Ugly beginnings, it appears
that these young lions aren't ready to give up the spotlight just yet.
