1 Pelican Whips Easy Street's Ass

On Saturday, those Chicago post-metal instrumental titans Pelican were in town again for an early show at El Corazon, as well as a free in-store at Easy Street Records (QA). The Pelican boys recorded their new record here in Seattle with TAAS drummer Chris Common and were also part of the two day Southern Lord showcase back in August. The current tour is in support of their fucking amazing, that’s right I said fucking amazing new record “What We All Come to Need” on Southern Lord. The album which actually hits stores on Tuesday October 27th has been in heavy rotation in my life since I received a promo copy in the mail a month ago. It is pure and simply one of those records that comes along only once in awhile that resonates so deeply it sticks to ones being. I even went back and revisited Pelican’s previous three records just to make sure I wasn’t mistaken. It turns out I shouldn’t have second guessed myself, as this new Pelican record is exactly as unbelievably melodic and massive as I knew it was. Let’s just say the other three are Pelican-light compared to “What We All Come to Need”.

I wasn't able to attend the El Corazon, but the Easy Street in-store kicked some major ass instead as Trevor, Laurent, and the brothers Herweg tore through four of the best tracks off the new one including “Glimmer”, “Ephemeral”, “The Creeper”, and “Strung Up From the Sky”, as well as “Embedding the Moss” off their 3 track EP “Ephemeral”. “The Creeper” immediately stood out as my favorite new song on the record and was equally huge live. Its simplicity is outweighed by its emotional power and seamless transition from Adam Jones inspired palm mute riffage to massive power chord progression. “Strung Up From the Sky” proved to be the heaviest of the set, and really blew my mind live moving from beautifully melodic beginnings into a killer mind fuck wall of heaviness. After revisiting this song on the record, it may be my new favorite. Bottom line here is Pelican has delivered with “What We All Come to Need”, and if you are a fan of heavy music there is no way to disregard this offering. Pick it up October 27th.