I have a special talent for missing awesome post-metal shows – Both MONO and Russian Circles have played two shows in Sydney that I have completely missed, and I didn’t even hear about Deafheaven’s first Aus tour until about a month after it happened*. That’s not going to happen again, which is the main reason I’m writing this post. Chicago post-rockers Pelican will be heading down under for a tiny string of dates later this month, and you’ll be doing yourself a favour by marking that in your calendars.
Listen to Arktika, then cancel your plans for July 24 – 27, Chicago post-rockers Pelican are coming to town.
Pelican have been described as pioneers of the post-metal genre, and indeed the opening few minutes of their variously lengthed March Into The Sea is just about the most nonchalantly fucking destructive thing I’ve heard before or since. While instrumentally spot on, their essence lies less in the technical and more in the tonal and the constructive – your garden variety Pelican song will ebb and flow, swell and crash, rise and fall way more often that you thought necessary and will explore an entire spectrum of splashy, distorted guitar noise throughout.
Having just wrapped up a European tour, the band have let us have a sneak peak as to what we can expect from a live Pelican show in the form of an 8 track live album titled Arktika. While March Into The Sea is conspicuously absent, we are treated to Parasite Colony from 2012’s Ataraxia/Taraxis and a wonderful version of Strung Up From The Sky off What We All Come To Need.
Impressively, a lot of the sound on Arktika is really well polished and the growling, guttural guitar noises are replicated from the record with the precision we’d expect from a post-metal band who have been doing their thing since 2003. Interestingly, the live setting sounds very similar to the sound quality of their earlier work, Australasia and The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon The Thaw in particular sounds very much like it was recorded in batches of live takes.
Pelican will be in the country for less than a week, from the 24th to the 27th of July, check below for specific tour dates. Tix are $45 and available from Metropolis Touring.
TOUR DATES
24th July – The Zoo, Brisbane
25th July – The Hi Fi, Melbourne
26th July – Manning Bar, Sydney
27th July – Rosemount Hotel, Perth
*Yes, I only listen to hipster metal. Sorry metal fans.
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