Pelican - City of Echoes

One thing that might not seem immediately apparent is that this website has deadlines and a publishing schedule. It’s a nice open ended schedule that allows a lot of time to research and revise articles before they see print. Unfortunately I for one do not take advantage of this luxury, even the day before our current update I found myself at the beach instead of hunched over my keyboard. Specifically we took a trip to Crane Beach in Ipswich where the weather was absolutely beautiful and the ocean was clean and inviting. The only problem we encountered was of course the seagulls. They tore into one of our hummus sandwiches and ripped open a bag of pita chips while we where in the ocean. Fortunately a trio of sunbathing Samaritans put our bag under our towel before the gulls ate everything but by the time we made it back to shore the damage was done. After figuring out what food had not been tainted by the evil birds we proceeded to enjoy a nice picnic under the glaring greedy eyes of the seagulls that stood a couple of feet from our blanket. Meanwhile we watched a bird snatch a sandwich from a man’s hand mid-flight, apparently injuring him in the process.  By the time we where packing up we had realized that gulls are some of the greediest and most hateful birds in nature; surely a pit opens up in the Lovecraftian town of Ipswich every morning allowing ten thousand screaming seagulls to escape from the depths of hell. Every evening they descend back into the bowels of the earth and sit around the flames boasting their Satan fueled sandwich snatching prowess to each other. You would think “Flock of Seagulls” would be the perfect name for a death metal band, but apparently it’s already been taken by an 80’s new wave group.

I guess that’s the reason why this band from Chicago had to settle for the name Pelican instead of something far more sinister. Still the name fits perfectly for a band whose songs glide effortlessly despite being extremely heavy. For those who haven’t heard them they can be best described as instrumental metal in the vein of doom, metals Black Sabbath worshiping stoner cousin. Intellectually the band is head and shoulders above its genre peers though; their first album (Australasia) featured huge sprawling tracks that trek along an endless landmass of influences and innovations. Also the bands lack of vocals and hypnotic groove creates the perfect soundtrack to your heavy metal dinner parties, engrossing but not necessarily distracting. Still the band mates themselves try to avoid being labeled as metal, since your average critic is predisposed to hate the genre. Instead they are described as post-metal, and nothing annoys me more than genres that begin with post. Such a description implies that metal is dead and that this band has learned from metals mistakes. Like bands labeled as post-punk or post-pop the similarities outweigh the differences and makes me think using the prefix “post” is a way for critics to justify listening to a genre they normally pan.

Pelican’s most recent album “City of Echoes” has taken a step back from what made Australasia so great by creating shorter, catchier songs. Then again this is Pelican with shorter, catchier songs; which is not terrible in its own right. Songs like “City of Echoes” and “Far from Fields” are fun, with simple rock and roll drums and shying away from the heavier guitars. But for those expecting some metal Crunch “Dead Between the Walls” and “Lost in the Headlights” boast a nice mix of Sepultura base heavy thrash and Sabbath riffing. Lastly tracks like “Winds with Hands” and “A Delicate Sense of Balance” are soothing undistorted instrumental pieces of easy listening goodness. So despite not being too innovative they still do that trick I love, playing long chunks of guitars tuned so low and so distorted they sound like a didgeridoo. It’s a good thing too; otherwise it wouldn’t have all that much to distinguish it from other slower paced instrumental bands.