I first heard these guys on the speakers of an obscure cd store in the East Village. It is one of the great benefits of brick and mortar music stores and another reason to lament their demise.
I've since bought a couple of their albums. I didn't know there is an extended version of the untitled EP...
I have The Fire in Out Throats and maybe I havent given it enough listens, but it just never clicked for me.
Being a big ISIS fan, I find Pelican to be a somewhat lighter version; not as dynamic or textured. As a result, I always just go straight for ISIS.
This thread has prompted me to take another listen...
I find it interesting how often this band gets shoved to the back seat over Isis. Isis, to me, isn't all they're cracked up to be, and Pelican has a deceptively transcendent quality to their compositions most other related bands can't touch. I can't really explain it, but Pelican's music moves me, causes me to get lost in it.
Incidentally, their DVD is exceptional and a fan might want to look into the latest from Tusk.
Pelican is one of my favorite bands. One of the record stores I frequent has a person who works there that is a big fan of Pelican. He mentioned them several times to me. So one day when I was there, they had Australasia on vinyl so I decided to buy it. The rest is history. I now have almost all their albums on vinyl (except for fire in our throats). Each one is excellent in it's own way. I'm not sure why some don't like City of Echoes as much because I think it's just as strong as some of their other work.
Last year, one evening I was looking through the live shows list in one of the neighboring towns. I saw that Pelican was going to be playing in a small bar just 1 hour from my house!!! I immediately got ready to go but it was too small a notice for anyone else I knew to go with me. I still went and am glad I did. I got to see Pelican play in a small venue with not very many people around. Best of all I bought the most rare vinyl version of City of Echoes and Untitled from one of the band members!
I like Pelican. I own their entire catalogue and I guess I'm a fan but I'm not in love with them. Up until city of echoes, I couldn't fault them for releasing consistently entertaining, predominantly major sludge/post-metal. City of echoes was somewhat disappointing imo. It definitely was not a total flop, but I don't know, just didn't feel that they really capitalized on its potential. I didn't hate it I liked it even but wasnt that impressed. And I kind of feel like Pelican has yet to really differentiate themselves from Isis. Every time Isis makes a stylistic choice, pelican moves in the same direction.
If you want to get into Pelican I think fire in their throats would be a good place to start, with Australasia being their best work.
Just to clarify, Australasia is an EP not a full length.
If you're into instrumental ensembles with some post-metal influences check out both Irepress and Russian Circles. Both imo are actually way more talented than Pelican but YMMV. Oh and both have new albums out soon hopefully.
I just picked up the new album and Ataraxia (the 2012 EP). Haven't gotten around to the full-length yet because the EP is blowing my mind. Love these guys.
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