Tag Archive: pelican

Earth – Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light II

Filed Under: Reviews

Jan.17, 2012

Earth

Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light II

01. Sigil Of Brass
02. His Teeth Did Brightly Shine
03. Waltz (A Multiplicity Of Doors)
04. The Corascene Dog
05. The Rakehell

[02/14/12]
[Southern Lord]

First and foremost, it needs to be said as a preface that I am not an expert in the field of drone/doom – quite the opposite. The closest I’ve come to experiencing it is the few forays into the sound that bands such as Giant Squid or even Boris have made but I’ve never made an effort to give the genre my time. So with the new year upon us, why not? And what better place to start than with the new album from drone pioneers Earth? With a career stretching back a good twenty years and a history intermingled with grunge legends Nirvana it’d be an understatement to say their time has been interesting, but what exactly is the sound of Earth today?

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Tags: Angels Of Darkness Demons Of Light II, Boris, Earth, giant squid, John Cage, nirvana, pelican, pink floyd, Southern Lord

Pelican To Release New Ataraxia/Taraxis EP In April, European Tour To Support

Filed Under: Tours and Rumors of Tours, Upcoming releases

Jan.11, 2012

We don’t get to talk about Pelican very much, because they’re not hugely active or prolific, but personally I hold them in very high regard, so the news that they are to release a new EP in April is very welcome.

Entitled Ataraxia/Taraxis, the four-track release will no doubt evince the ambient yet crushing atmospheres they are wont to create. Each track was also recorded in a different place, with engineer duties handled by two different people - Sanford Parker, a legendary Chicago producer and member of Buried at Sea and Minsk, who has worked with the likes of Twilight and Nachtmystium, and Aaron Harris (ex-ISIS) – which are as follows:

01. Ataraxia
02. Lathe Biosas
03. Parasite Colony
04. Taraxis

Ataraxia/Taraxis will be with us on April 10th through Southern Lord. In support, Pelican will be heading out on a two-week run of dates in Europe and the UK:

4/06/2012 Dunk! Festival - Zottegem, BE

4/07/2012 The Garage - London, UK w/ Chelsea Wolfe

4/08/2012 Vudu Club - Birmingham, UK w/ Chelsea Wolfe

4/09/2012 Brudenell Social Club – Leeds, UK

4/10/2012 Stereo – Glasgow, UK

4/11/2012 The Ruby Lounge – Manchester, UK

4/12/2012 The Haunt – Brighton, UK

4/13/2012 The Cooler – Bristol, UK

4/14/2012 Roadburn Festival – Tilburg, Netherlands

4/15/2012 La Maronquinerie – Paris, France

4/16/2012 Jubez – Karlsruhe, Germany w/ Tombs

4/17/2012 Bad Bonn – Dudingen, Switzerland

4/18/2012 Magnolia – Milan, Italy

4/19/2012 Feierwerk – Munich, Germany w/ Tombs

4/20/2012 Cassiopeia – Berlin, Germany w/ Tombs

4/21/2012 Nosturi – Helsinki, Finland

As one of the few post-metal bands that truly prick up my ears, and particularly in the absence of contemporaries ISIS, I’m pretty stoked for this one. Keep an eye out for my review closer to the time.

- CG

Tags: Aaron Harris, Ataraxia/Taraxis, Buried at Sea, Isis, Minsk, Nachtmystium, pelican, Sanford Parker, Southern Lord, Twilight

Chris Letchford of Scale the Summit: The Heavy Blog Is Heavy Interview

Filed Under: Interviews

Dec.23, 2011

Photo by Harrison Letchford

Yesterday we posted our interview of Last Chance To Reason, but it isn’t the only band we talked to this week. On the very same Protest the Hero headlining tour (which ended last night), we spoke to Chris Letchford of the instrumental progressive rock/metal band Scale The Summit about instrumental music, their latest album The Collective, and the past couple of years on the road.

You guys played phenomenal tonight.

Awesome!

This was the first time I’ve seen you guys live, but I’ve been a fan for a while. Something I’ve always wanted to know; your songs sound very cinematic, like they invoke these images of landscapes and everything with song titles like “The Great Plains” and “Whales.” Do you go into it as if you want to write a song about whales or do you apply the title after the fact?

Usually after the fact. Yeah, cause usually when we write, we’ll finish a song and then we kind of sit back and listen to kind of visualize imagery from all the moods and whatnot that’s going on in the song. Yeah, it’s definitely afterwards, for sure.

Instrumental music seems to have a better market now than it did when you first started. That could be because of technology and everything, but how do you see the more popularity of instrumental music?

You’re definitely right. It’s not that it has more of a market, I think there’s more people are accepting of it, but that’s because instrumental bands are actually touring now, you know? Because there’s been instrumental forever, but it’s just the only people touring instrumental were like Vai and Satriani and a little bit of Petrucci. [Liquid Tension Experiment] never actually physically toured, you know? So they’ve been around since the late 90s or whatever. But yeah, with us, Animals as Leaders, Pelican, Russian Circles and all those bands actually touring, it’s easier for us to get instrumental music out there. So people always say, “Oh, you know instrumental is getting popular now.” It’s like, yeah, more in the touring world, but you know it’s obviously been around forever, it’s just now there are actually bands that are going out there and touring.

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Tags: Animals As Leaders, Between The Buried and Me, Chris Letchford, Cynic, Devin Townsend, Dream Theater, Joe Satriani, John Petrucci, Last Chance To Reason, Liquid Tension Experiment, pelican, Protest the Hero, Russian Circles, Scale The Summit, Steve Vai

Pelican To Tour UK In April

Filed Under: Tours and Rumors of Tours

Nov.10, 2011

A bit of British-based tour news to start off your Thursday (or Skyrim Eve, as it will henceforth be known I’m sure), and it’s a doozey. Pelican, Southern Lord’s own sludgey post-metal sons of bitches will be hitting mainland UK in April next year (a way off, but closer than you think, trust me). No supports announced as of yet, but they’ll be stopping at all of the standard places.

I first caught Pelican many years ago in Birmingham, co-headlining with the now defunct These Arms Are Snakes. TAAS played first; I danced. Pelican came on; I collapsed at the bar. That they literally floored me should provide ample assurances to anyone on the fence about attending, even if it did the exact opposite to everyone else that I was to drive home at 70mph+ later that evening.

Dates on the poster if you’re blind. I may well have to go and relive my meeting with the floor of The Garage, so you’ll know who to look for if you turn up yourself.

- CG

Tags: pelican, Southern Lord Records

Pelican And Godflesh Working On New Material

Filed Under: Audio, Upcoming releases

Oct.10, 2011

Although not technically label-mates, Chicago-based post-metal outfit Pelican share their Hydra Head Records home with Godflesh main-man Justin K, Broadrick for his solo work and side-projects, and indeed have collaborated with him a number of times, including on this remix for Pelican’s March Into The Sea EP:

The point of this little history lesson is to inform you that, as The PRP reports, both outfits are somewhere along the road towards putting out new releases.

Speaking with Decibel, Brit Broadrick (that has a nice ring to it doesn’t it?) confirmed that, whilst busy, writing is occuring – slowly – and we could see something from the godfathers of industrial and post-metal within the next twelve months.

“I guess because I’ve had my son, it’s slowed things down a bit for us. I mean, Ben Green got married last year and he still holds a very good job, so he’s very busy, we’re both very busy but we have a lot of ideas.

Also, there’s no way we’d approach a new record just to milk the new-found popularity of Godflesh. I mean, it could take another year before we release something, and even the intitial impact of the reformation could have subsided by then, but that’s kind of meaningless, really, it’s just making another really good, cold and bleak record.”

Pelican, meanwhile, are already in the studio with former ISIS drummer Aaron Harris, tracking the beats for an as-yet untitled release, who was speaking via his blog. No other news on that, but colour me excited.

Good times, yo!

- CG

Tags: Aaron Harris, Godflesh, Isis, Justin K. Broadrick, March Into The Sea, pelican

Deathmole—Now on Bandcamp!

Filed Under: Audio, New music

Aug.19, 2011

I’ve spoken about Deathmole before (hell, I even interviewed their fictitious guitarist), but I’m speaking about them now too. Deathmole is an instrumental post-metal band that jumped out of the decidedly minimally metal but still awesome webcomic Questionable Content and into our ears via artist and writer Jeph Jacques. Jeph has released several albums under the Deathmole name in the past, but this new album Fear of Black Horses is the first one available for purchase on Bandcamp.

If you’re in the mood for bands like Cloudkicker and Pelican, then Deathmole is for you! Stream Fear of Black Horses below. It is most excellent:

You can purchase it (and the newly uploaded previous album Amps) at bandcamp for a measly buck each. You’ve got a buck to spare. Don’t lie.

- JR

Tags: Cloudkicker, Deathmole, Jeph Jacques, pelican, Questionable Content

THE POWER OF THE RIFF Mix Tape & Tour Dates

Filed Under: Audio, Listen To This!, Tours and Rumors of Tours

Aug.03, 2011

THE POWER OF THE RIFF

2011 Mix Tape

01 ALL PIGS MUST DIE – “Pulverization”
02 BAPTISTS – “Good Parenting”
03 EYEHATEGOD – “Jack Ass in the Will of God”
04 MASAKARI – “Trapped In The Mold”
05 ALPINIST – “Hak Nam”
06 SKIN LIKE IRON – “Consequences”
07 EARLY GRAVES – “Wraiths”
08 SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP – “Sundown”
09 PENTAGRAM – “Call The Man”
10 BLACK BREATH – “Children Of The Horn”
11 PLAGUES – “Breathing”
12 HARASSOR – “Glory Raped”
13 ACEPHALIX – “Interminable Night”
14 BLACK COBRA – “Negative Reversal”
15 ÆGES – “Roaches”
16 SLAVE – “Rise Of Shame”
17 TRAP THEM – “Carnage Incarnate”
18 NOOTHGRUSH – “Oil Removed”
19 PELICAN – “Strung Up From The Sky”
20 WINTER – “Eternal Frost”

DOWNLOAD IT HERE

Southern Lord Presents Free 20-Song THE POWER OF THE RIFF Mix Tape
In preparation for THE POWER OF THE RIFF 2011, with five West Coast shows announced to take place later this month, Southern Lord is giving away a brutal 20-track mix tape featuring artists set to appear during the upcoming melee! The free download includes tracks from ALL PIGS MUST DIE, BAPTISTS, EYEHATEGOD, PENTAGRAM, BLACK COBRA, PELICAN, NOOTHGRUSH, WINTER, TRAP THEM and more, as well as a collection of flyers from all of the upcoming TPOTR shows, which are listed after the jump…

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Tags: ACEPHALIX, All Pigs Must Die, ALPINIST, Baptists, black breath, black cobra, Early Graves, Eyehategod, Masakari, pelican, SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP, Southern Lord, The Power Of The Riff Festival, WINTER

5 Great Bands With Fewer Than A Thousand Listeners

Filed Under: Editorials, Listen To This!

Mar.25, 2011

The word ‘underrated’ is probably used way too much these days, it seems that anything less than universal acclaim is undermining a bands talent to their fans. It’s probably fair to say that the skill in new bands has increased, every band is more technical/better at songwriting/straight up weirder than it’s predecessors so it’s probably natural that some guys just miss the hype train in lieu of yet another band who will save deathcore/rejuvenate djent/copy Metallica. While music is incredibly subjective in terms of taste, how often have you stumbled upon a band and just gone ‘Wow, who are these guys and why are they so damn awesome?’ Last.fm is hardly the be all and end all of popularity, but I’d say it’s a pretty good indicator, so here are five bands that are the definition of ‘underrated’:

#1: Lizard Skynard

With a mind blowing 41 listeners(!?) on Last.fm, Lizard Skynard are my favourite secret. Taking influences from all corners of heavy music including grind, hardcore and dissonant rock, they provide some of the most interesting music I’ve heard in the last few years. However, the vocals and lyrics are where the real genius lies. Provided by Erik Sprague, who you may of heard of as the Lizardman, they are mostly a collection of spoken word short stories from some very eclectic characters. Take for instance ‘Space Eels‘, which tells the tale of an insane homeless man who tries to stop an alien invasion by getting passers by to smile, or my personal favourite ‘Normal‘, a story of a police officer so hellbent on keeping the world normal that he begins to break down mentally – it’s made far more poignant when you realise that ‘Normal‘ is being told by a man who literally has the word ‘FREAK’ emblazoned on his chest. If that at all interests you then head over their homepage where you can stream and buy copies of their 2010 self-titled debut album.

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Tags: Batillus, Cut Your Teeth, Huntress, iron maiden, King Diamond, Lizard Skynard, Mercyful Fate, Metallica, Parasytic, pelican, toxic holocaust

East Of The Wall Announce Details For New Album!

Filed Under: General News, Upcoming releases

Mar.14, 2011

According to an announcement on their official website, East Of The Wall will be entering the studio on May 8th to record their next full-length, The Apologist. The band will be working with Andrew Schneider (Cave In, Rosetta, Pelican), and the album is currently slated for a fall release. Also, here’s the tentative track listing:

“False Build”
“Naif”
“Linear Failure”
“My Favorite Society Guy”
“Precious Memories”
“The Apologist”
“Running Tab of Sweetness”
“Horseback Riding In A Bicycle World”
“A Functional Tumor”
“Nurser of Small Hurts”
“Whiskey Sipper”
“Underachiever”

This is very exciting news for various reasons. For one, it’s only been 8 months since they released Ressentiment, which was superb, so the fact that we have another album on the way so soon is awesome. Also, we can expect a different sound from this album because the current East Of The Wall was formed by two different bands (Biclops and the old East Of The Wall) coming together, and most of the material on Ressentiment was written by Biclops. This explains why they’re able to come out with a new album so soon, and it’ll be very interesting to hear what The Apologist sounds like with them all working together on it. Get excited!

-PM

Tags: Andrew Schneider, biclops, Cave In, East of the Wall, pelican, ressentiment, Rosetta, The Apologist

Helveticore: In Which I Find A Lost Piece Of My Soul

Filed Under: Helveticore

Feb.18, 2011

Holy cannoli! Today I was running naked through the fields of the internet and I came across the website gigposters.com. Why, in my quarter century of life, have I not come across this site before? Seriously, I’ve been using the internet since I was like 8. Anyway, it’s pretty much the coolest website. The concept is exactly what the name would lead you to believe. There are so many beautiful posters on this site, and I’ve spent more of my day than I care to admit looking at them. I’ve compiled a couple of my favourite below.

As I was browsing though I started thinking, why don’t bands sell these posters at shows? Screw buying a t-shirt, if I was at a show and saw posters like these, silk screened on fine art paper? I would flip out. Take for instance the Muse poster below. I was at that show; I saw those bands play. If I had seen that poster for sale I would have bought it for sure, even though it’s not a great poster and it would have been madly overpriced.

The only time I can ever remember seeing a really well done poster at a show was when I saw Pelican a few years back. For some reason I bought a t-shirt instead for reasons that I can’t fathom. Oh the follies of our youth. Anyway, I’m keeping my post short this week because I’m working on some big things for my next series of articles. Enjoy my selections below.

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