Last Thursday: Sunn O))), Pelican, and Earth

Earth

On paper Night 2 of the Southern Lord showcase over at Neumos was a much more stellar lineup of proven heavy hitters. The night started with Eagle Twin, who I was pissed I missed due to not paying attention to the time. From the stuff I heard they are a unique 2-man drone metal force to be reckoned with. I did arrive in time for Seattle’s own Earth again, second time in 3 weeks. I was pleasantly surprised that Dylan Carlson had brought along some extra players this go around including Steve on Organ and a woman on Cello whose name I have not been able to track down. The 5 piece was fantastic and adding the extra layers of instruments really added some dimension to Earth’s newer cleaner drones. They played mostly stuff off their most recent record including “Hung from the Moon” and “Engine of Ruin”. They also ended the night with a brand new song which was very much in the same vain as their most recent material. I might be in the minority but I love seeing Earth live more than listening to their records. Sure it’s sluggish, lumbering, sometimes monotonous music but in a live setting when the full band is in the room they are capable of creating some of the heaviest and most beautiful soundscapes ever written.

Next up was one of my favorite bands right now, instrumental post-metal band Pelican. I came to find out at the show that Pelican had been in Seattle recording their new album with non-other than Chris Common of These Arms Are Snakes who has transformed into the producer du jour for many awesome bands including his own band These Arm Are Snakes, Helms Alee, Pelican and a bunch on the Hydra Head label. Pelican played a solid 45 minute set of mostly brand new stuff from their forthcoming record “What We All Come to Need”, but the standout track was surely “Embedding the Moss” from their most recent EP “Ephemeral”. Both I and a new friend Matt agreed that what we heard was the sound of the Pelican of old. If “City of Echoes” was a departure, the new stuff was a return to form.

The closer was again Sunn O))), this time playing as a five piece with none other than famed Hungarian black metal vocalist Attila Csihar, who is best known for his work on notorious Norwegian black metal pioneer Mayhem’s “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas”, which is arguably their best record. I personally was pumped to see Attila since I missed the recent visit by Mayhem. It was another blast of extreme levels and low-end that felt like it could take the building down. The best part was Attila’s eviler than thou vocalizations that sounded to me like I was in the middle of a Satanic ritual. The cloaked Attila looked and sounded like he was about to sacrifice a goat in the name of Beelzebub as he eerily posed in the hazy dimly lit room. It was actually pretty creepy, and so I headed out a little early this night due to the fact that work was going to come early, but I got my fill and it was a killer show!

On a side note, I love merch tables at metal shows, you can always count on plenty of cool stuff including tons of vinyl. I couldn’t help myself and picked up a couple kick ass LP’s including Pelican’s “Ephemeral” and a rarity; Thorr’s Hammer's “Dommedagsnatt”, an EP released in 1996. Thorr’s Hammer was formed in Ballard, Washington by Greg Anderson and Stephen O'Malley in 1994; it featured female Norwegian vocalist Runhild Gammelsæter, who joined the band during her stay in the US as a Norwegian exchange student. She was only 17 at the time “Dommedagsnatt” was recorded.

-SRG

Sunn O)))