By JOHN DALY – Winter Calling, the avant-garde rock band from Tampa, has a new album called FACES and it’s a creative effort that blends the style of YES with the latest in prog rock style.

Check out Winter Calling on Soundcloud.

If you’re looking for music that blends sweeping lyrical songs with amazing drumming and vocals, this second album from Winter Calling is appealing. Like an arctic blast from the north, Winter Calling invigorates the heavy rock scene. Composed of music industry veterans, the band is a synergistic blend of styles and creative influences that combine to create a cool sound.

Chris Hodges’ vocal work is extremely varied and outstanding; Ian Medhurst’s guitar work is impressive, Tim Gilbreath’s basslines pull it together and Wayne Hoefle, who also plays piano and keyboards, is a true find as a drummer extraordinaire.  It’s not easy to develop a distinctive style of drumming mastery in this genre, but Wayne has done it.

FACES features a guest appearance by guitarist, John Wesley — of Porcupine Tree, Fish, Mike Tramp and Big Elf — on their song “Not Like You.”

Winter Calling members continue to write and record music for film and network television including work for ABC, Fox and Netflix.

Formed in Florida in 2013, the band began as a side project between Wayne who was composing film scores at the time, and guitarist Ian, who was touring with national recording artist John.

They recruited Texas bassist Tim. Their search for a vocalist led them to Los Angeles-based artist Chris Hodges.  Chris’ vocals bring balance to the band’s already powerful sound.

In March, 2015, Winter Calling released their debut album, As Darkness Falls along with a promotional video for the powerful first single, “The Stand.”

Winter Calling pulled out all the stops on this release, even recruiting famed artist David Ho of Sony Music, Seether, Soulfly, and Heavy Metal magazine, to design the cover art for their concept album FACES.

Of note: The guitar work in “Still Hold On,” is remarkable.  The haunting sound of “A New Me a Few Me,” highlights the creativity of all the band members. FACES was mastered by Justin Shturtz at Sterling Sound, New York, NY and the album was mixed by Wayne at Big Dog Studios in Sarasota, Fla.

Tracklisting: 1. Disorder, 2. Not Like You, 3. The Tower, 4. Follow Me Down, 5. Truth from a Lie, 6. Still Hold On, 7. A New Me a Few Me, 8. A Different Tune, 9. My Own Way

Read more excellent reviews and articles at CaliforniaRocker.com and EastCoastRocker.com