DRASTICALLY IMPROVING AS OPPOSED TO GETTING WORSE IS METAL

The first time I saw the soundscape-y post-metal band Pelican play, back in the Summer of 2005, they bored me so much (almost as much as this), I had to–you guessed it–go chill out back and puff a J with a lady friend.

HOWEVER, I had been hearing some pretty good buzz earlier this year about the Chicago band’s new Hydrahead record City Of Echoes, and so I decided to give them another shot. A buddy and I puffed Le Ganj, went to go see Pelican play, and lo and behold, apparantly now they’re awesome.

I mentioned all of this to one of their guitar players after their set, and he remarked that many folks have been echoing my sentiments recently. I wasn’t sure if I was going to offend him by saying something to the effect of “Hey dude–I hated yr band the last time I saw you guys but tonight you were fresh!” But he’s a stand-up guy, and knew I meant no harm. Actually seemed pretty psyched about it.

Constructive criticism is so metal.

And so therefore kudos to Pelican–no line-up changes, nothing new in the least–perhaps it’s just due to a realignment of the stars….

In any case, keep up the good work, boyz!

-KW

visit Pelican’s website here

visit Pelican on myspace here